


Immortals (But Not for Long)

by kingofemo



Category: X Men, X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Brother-Sister Relationships, Family Issues, Gen, I love this fic and all of its characters with all that I am this is such a labor of love, Major Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Other, The story that knows it's non-canonical, There is no smut in this but it's violent and everyone has a potty mouth, This is in its Own universe, Timey Wimey Bullshit, Will wolverine and Adrienne stay friends and save the world/Adrienne's life?, X men - Freeform, basically everybody's gay, looming feeling of doom, non binary character, trigger warnings in the notes!, will Bennie's prediction be complete bullshit?, will Dylan ever learn how to bake?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:35:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6835534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingofemo/pseuds/kingofemo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the help of cerebro, Xavier tracks down a young mutant with the gift of foresight. He is completely baffled when he finds that she is not the only one in the household, that he was unable to track her (quite powerful) brother. When promised safety, the duo agrees to follow the professor back to the school for gifted youngsters - but even there, the past they've left behind is able to find them. Haunted by horrific memories and surrounded by lies, Bennie and Adrienne are forced to keep a low profile until they are no longer able to hide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Curtains Down

It was an important day. There was no doubt in Bennie's mind, she'd been anticipating this for weeks. Her dreams of what was on the television before she went to school, who was parked outside of the apartment complex, what the weather was like, how her classes went - it was definitely something she'd seen already.

 

Bennie usually didn't leave the house without her brother by her side in this area, but in every vision, every reality - she was safe this time. Adrienne wouldn't be happy if he saw she was outside alone, but he wouldn't be home for another hour. Plus, she was almost fifteen years old. She'd be okay. It was about time she started doing things on her own. 

It was poker night, and he always had the same routine; he'd be home from wherever he was working at seven, gone again at nine-thirty... home at midnight, a bundle of cash in his hands to stuff into the safe. Bennie didn't need to look into the different windows of reality to see that. Her brother was a creature of habit.

They lived in the poorer part of the city - just as you'd imagine. It wasn't a good idea to sit outside by the road, but Bennie couldn't be bothered. She had a date with destiny.

 

Someone had been looking for her; well, both of them, but Adrienne was pretty damn good at not being found. Despite his expertise, Bennie had been located. But in every window she saw through so far, it was positive - like it was meant to happen. Adrienne hardly believed her when she warned him about today, thinking it was some sort of trap set by people looking for them. But Bennie was never wrong.

She knew the moment she got home that someone was in her head, she knew the feeling all too well. It was time for her to let whoever it was know that she was willing to accept her future. Bennie sat on the curb outside, content, smiling as an unfamiliar car pulled into the lot.

She watched a tiny bit of a struggle, the driver got out and swung around to the other side. Bennie saw as the driver helped the passenger into a wheelchair, then perked up as they approached.

"Are you looking for something?" She asked, though she knew the answer already. It wasn't like she could just say 'hi, I'm ready for you to take my brother and I away now.'

"Yes, actually," The man in the wheelchair's voice was soothing to Bennie - a good sign. She relaxed as she saw the bald, handicapped man's gentle smile. "I was looking... for you."

"I knew you'd be coming to meet me soon," She grinned - her knowledge was limited, but she was absolutely sure that this was the pair that she was waiting for. "You've been watching for me for a little while."

"Do you know who I am?"

"All I know is that you've come here to find me and my brother, and that he'll try to keep me here." She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to concentrate on the most vivid of the windows. "He'll be home soon. Please don't be afraid of him, he thinks you're here to take me away and he's overprotective.”

"Bennie, my name is Professor Charles Xavier, and this is my dear friend, Scott. I've found you through my mutant tracking technology, and I'd like to help you. Do you have a parent home that I could speak with?"

"It's just my brother and I here," She stated blankly. "He's got powers, too.”

"I... I did not pick up on another mutant in this area," The professor looked quite confused, giving his friend a look that Bennie couldn't quite read.

"He's really good at not being found."

"Could I ask what you can do?" The man named Scott asked - she gave him another study, it didn't seem like he was someone Adrienne was going to get along with. Maybe he was the issue in these windows. From what she could see now, Bennie was going to figure out more about this man soon enough.

"I can see things that could happen," She scrunched up her face in thought, pushing her glasses up as they slipped down her nose. "If I try, sometimes I can change things."

"You can see into the future?"

"I can see into a lot of futures."

Bennie tensed up as she saw Adrienne's beat-up red station wagon enter the lot, not sure how things were going to go. She opted to stand closer to the professor, hoping that Adrienne would see the man in the wheelchair before he saw the more menacing of the two.

"You see, Bennie, I am a professor at a school for gifted youngsters, much like yourself. I would like to teach you more about your abilities in a safe place, where -"

Adrienne hopped out of his car, quickly snatching the bat from the front seat. He kept it there just in case he had to get in a fight in public, Bennie had hinted at this meeting earlier that day. She made it sound like a kidnapping.

He spat out his cigarette and approached the duo, chest puffed. "I know about you. Bennie said you were here to - "

Adrienne stopped abruptly, cocking his head to the side. His face turned red, his nostrils flared, and he gripped the bat a little tighter. "You're trying to read my mind? I've got a weapon, isn't that a good enough sign that I'm not a fan of you assholes cornering a teenage girl in the middle of the slums?"

Scott reached up to hold his glasses, but the professor raised his hand in warning to stop him. "This isn't the first time you've met a telapath, I see. I can't read your mind anyway, young man. That must be why I didn't know you'd be here."

Addie lowered the weapon, studying the duo in front of him a little more. As far as he could tell, they were in no immediate danger. The professor was already out of his head with no information, and though the other guy looked like a douche, he didn't seem anywhere near as strong as Adrienne. Bennie strode over to her brother, putting her hands on the bat.

"They're nice, I promise. I know," She looked up at him and pouted, and he released it so that Bennie was now holding the weapon. "Scott'll zap you with his eyes if you hurt him. They're like us, they just want to help. They want to protect us.”

Adrienne shook his head, that was enough. He took in a deep breath, then extended a hand to the professor. "Adrienne Monroe, sir."

"Charles Xavier."

He shook the professor's hand tightly, giving him a sad smile. "I'm sorry about all of that, really... it's a rough neighborhood." It had been a rough life.

When he shook the man's hand, Addie shivered slightly - he absorbed, shared, just a bit of the man's mind. He learned that he was indeed, a skilled telepath - Addie didn't see the need to keep the telepathy, the part of the professor that was begging to be a part of him, and let it slip away. He learned enough to know that this was legitimate, he really was a professor. With that, he turned to Scott. "Zap me with your eyes, huh?"

Scott reluctantly shook Addie's hand, who shivered once again. Now, this was a lot more like it. He felt power, struggle, a surge of energy - just what he was looking for. When he absorbed the power, though, he created a bond with Scott - he was a very sad man. Addie released him and allowed his body to assess the new information, and Scott gasped as he watched Addie's eyes changed shape and color. Scott was staring back into his own face, Addie's eyes only giving off a slight, glowing red. He let his face shift back into his own, though one of Scott's green eyes replaced his gray one.

"You shapeshift, then?" He asked quickly, and Adrienne gave him a shrug. 

"I can, but it hurts like hell. You ever try recreating your bone structure?" Addie smiled slyly, pointing to his eye that had changed into Scott's. "I'll be borrowing this, if you don't mind."

"Incredible," The professor grinned - he wasn't expecting to meet another mutant here, but it seemed that this man was exactly what the team needed. "As I was telling your little sister, I teach at a school for gifted youngsters only a few hours from here. We're in a safe place, and I was able to track her using my own abilities. I was unsure of your existence, I'm afraid - if I would have known you were one of us, I would've tried contacting you beforehand."

"Yeah, I've had bad run-ins with telepaths," Addie relaxed further, lazily draping an arm around his sister. "But I exist, too."

"If you'd be interested, we'd like to welcome you to our school. We have shelter and comfort that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else, along with an education in a safe place."

"It's a little late for me, I'm afraid, Mr. Xavier. And I can't let Bennie go without me, not right now. So, though this is a lot nicer than I thought this meeting would be, I can't let you take her. I'm sorry."

"I don't think you quite understand, Adrienne," Xavier gave him a genuine smile. "It is not only just a safe place for children to learn, but for mutants to learn. For example, how to use their abilities for good, to help others. If you are willing to help us, the X Men, we will do everything we can to help you. You may not need a diploma, but we provide a safe place to learn how to hone in on your abilities, if you'd like to make a difference in the world."

"Addie wants to be a music teacher," Bennie piped up, receiving a look that could kill if Adrienne would've absorbed more of Scott's ability.

"Listen, if you're interested, we're bringing a group of younger students and a few chaperones into the city in two days. If you'd like, you can tag along on our field trip to the museum, meet a few of us in a public area. If you do not believe that it is best for you, you may go on your way. And if you'd rather follow us, you may pack your things and follow behind the bus as we travel back to the institute," Xavier explained, gesturing to Scott.

Scott produced two tickets out of his pocket, and Addie took them. He wasn't about to say no to a free trip to a museum, especially this believe-it-or-not one, it could be interesting at least.

"Two days," Adrienne repeated dreamily, his voice trailing off slightly. "We'll be there. Hell, I brought a bat thinking brutes were going to kidnap my little sister, and you're giving us tickets to a museum and promising us a safer home... What a first impression."

It's at least better than in the window where you push Scott down and blow up half of the cars in the street, Bennie pointed out to him in his mind.

"Pack your things if you're interested, but we will be headed back for the night. In two days, we will be at the museum at one in the afternoon, and you can follow along if you choose."

Addie did a little half-bow, then saluted Scott a bit sarcastically. "Thanks for the eye, bro. We'll be there, you can at least count on that." He paused again, his features hardening. "Sir, I'll have to ask you to get the hell out of my head, you're not going to get anything out of me. I don't think I can trust you if you keep doing this."

"My apologies, truly. It's just fascinating that you're able to feel me trying to get through to you, and I'm unable to do anything about it. I do hope you trust me when I say you'd both be valuable to our team."

"I promise, I'll tell you everything you want to know in due time, if things are right. Now, c'mon, Bennie. Let's get you something to eat."

"If you try heating up leftovers from yesterday you're going to get sick from it again."

"What would I do without you, kid?" Adrienne snorted, giving his sister a pat on the back. He flashed the duo a smile once more, then nodded politely before turning back around. "We'll see you in two days."

He walked his sister toward the complex, and as they went, Xavier was able to get inside of Bennie's head.

_I do hope he sees that we mean no harm._

_We're going, no matter what,_ Bennie thought, shooting the professor a smile before she closed the door behind her.

Adrienne set his jacket on the table and let out a long sigh. "Any windows where you get hurt from this that you can see?"

"No, I'm okay in all of them. As far ahead as I can see, I'm happy there. But if you don't keep your hands to yourself at the museum you're going to look funny.”

Adrienne gave Bennie a half smile. "C'mon, Ben, I'll at least get you some ramen before I head out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally a oneshot written for my cousin, Ash. A year or so later followed by way too much time spent reading comics, it took over my life again. 
> 
> I've written nine chapters so far, and there shouldn't be too many to come afterward!
> 
> I will put notes on the beginning of certain chapters where I'll warn about possible triggers. Thank you for your time!!
> 
> c:


	2. Come with Me Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrienne and Bennie are prepared to follow behind and join the professor at his school. First, they have to make a good impression.
> 
> Or something.

Adrienne hadn't ever turned down a job from his “in,” but there was a first for everything. He had failed to eliminate his last target, and there were going to be consequences. 

If he really who he told them he was.

Which, of course, was not the case. He packed his and Bennie's things, she assured the elder that it was safer for them to just follow behind after whatever happened. Adrienne hauled them out to the car, tossed his favorite guitar into the trunk, and cursed at traffic until they reached their destination. He had a quick smoke before they went inside, Bennie bouncing with excitement until he flicked the butt away. 

Adrienne and Bennie walked closely to one another, doing their best not to draw any attention, shuffling through the crowds of people as silently as possible. Because of how close they were, Adrienne had a very strong bond with the younger girl - they were able to share simple thoughts with each other to avoid much confusion.

The life of someone that constantly changed what they looked like and had the ability to absorb all kinds of knowledge was an interesting one, to say the least. It was easy for him to navigate through crowded, busy places with the full effect without having to interact with someone that may stare too intently - the absorption of people's looks (that he intended to keep) looked quite strange in his more relaxed state, he looked asymmetrical and mutants weren't exactly the public's favorite members of society. His sister, on the other hand, was still just growing into her abilities - though they had started to develop early, and were pretty easy to anticipate with the strange silver tone to her left eye and hair, she still looked quite normal at a glance.

Bennie was incredibly intelligent, as well - she was at the top of her classes, no matter where they drifted. Addie made sure they'd move in synch with the school years, even if he was in trouble he kept his little sister's education and safety at the highest priority. The possibility of going to a safe place while simultaneously getting Bennie a proper education was almost too good to be true; he was still slightly weary. Though he might've been uneasy, there was no possible way he'd miss out on this opportunity.

After making it inside the museum and being let in, Adrienne looked down at his watch to see that they were a bit early. "D'ya think they're already here?" He asked his sister quietly, glancing around the crowd a bit. 

"Yeah, they're over there," Bennie snapped Addie out of his thoughts, pointing at the small gathering, centered around a familiar face.

Addie tugged at his sister's sleeve and guided her over to the little huddle and stood quietly, patiently as the professor finished up his little speech about the tour. Seemed that they'd only be there for a couple of hours, just enough to pick up the new recruits. He smiled over at Addie and Bennie, giving them a nod to let them know he saw them approach.

"Ah, this is Bennie and her brother Adrienne, they'll be joining us, potentially permanently. And now, you may all break off into the groups we've agreed on. Be sure to stick together. And chaperones, please don't misplace any students this time."

Bennie's expression was blank, her thoughts were far away as they all turned to stare at the newcomers. If they looked hard enough, they could see the mist swirling behind her eyes, but Addie gave his sister a little nudge, smiling uneasily at the crowed as she pulled herself out of her trance. She giggled softly, shrugging a little bit.

"You space out at the worst times, kid," Adrienne sighed, and Bennie smirked softly up at him. She'd seen something, but Addie was more worried about the people around them to ask what she saw.

One group had wandered off almost instantly - a beautiful woman and a loud teenager lead it, followed by Scott. Who, of course, looked about as chipper the day before. Bennie and Addie looked at each other and agreed that he wasn't someone they'd want to be around more than they had to be.

"We're going to stay with you, sir," Adrienne turned to the professor.

"If that's what you wish. Come, we'll start this way." The professor turned his chair, a small group of teens Bennie's age following behind. Bennie slipped ahead, accidentally bumping into a shorter, androgynous teen - wearing an oddly bright yellow coat. She seemed to know exactly who to talk to first, and they bonded quickly - well, as far as Addie could tell. He studied those around them, more interested in the group they were walking with than the interactive exhibits around them. One had a jacket with that 'x' symbol that he'd gathered was the logo for the school, it was on a few of the passes the children were wearing and the professor was wearing it, as well. The man in the jacket looked a bit older, more Adrienne's age, he must've been one of the chaperones.

"It's interesting, at least. This stuff isn't as incredible as some of the things I've seen mutants do, but it is pretty crazy," He thought aloud to the stranger in an attempt to be friendly. "You're not a student, but man, have you been quiet. Soaking it all in?"

"A little nervous, I suppose," An accent, very nice. "This place is crowded. I'm not a fan of crowds."

 

"We've got at least that in common." Adrienne smiled nervously. "You've got a really pleasing voice, by the way."

Oh, god damn it. He received a bit of a look, one he couldn't quite decipher. He considered listening into his thoughts, but with another telepath so close, maybe that wasn't a good idea. "Not... to be creepy. Or anything. But if you were a teacher, your class would be the one that kids would stay awake during. I would... you know, if... If I went to school..." Well, that was a great first impression.

"You're not going to join us?" He asked, furrowing his brows slightly.

"Uh, I'm already set on school. I might look young, but I'm all set. I'm actually closer to thirty than I'd like to admit. The professor told me he had other things for me to do. I'll probably help with teaching. As long as I have a place to sleep and Bennie's getting an education, I'm going to follow along. The idea of being surrounded by others of our kind... it's almost hard to believe. I wish we would've known about it before."

The man grinned, nodding. "It's perfect, being able to be yourself. Not having to hide..."

Adrienne swallowed, not listening to whatever the man said next.

Not having to hide.  
Sounds brilliant, but that'd always be a stretch.

"Oh, I'm Adrienne, by the way," With that, he extended a hand for him to shake, but the other man brushed it off. His hands remained in his pockets. Adrienne frowned, a little offended. 

"Kurt Wagner, but I'd prefer not to shake hands at the moment. I'll... explain later."

Addie shrugged, playing off how he felt. He tuned into what the professor was saying, listening until he saw Bennie was giving him that look of ‘we're staying whether you want to or not’ again. He stuck his tongue out at her, to have her return the gesture.

"You and your sister are very close?" Kurt asked, more as a way to break the silence than anything.

"We're all we've ever had," Addie breathed, straightening back up. "She's a good kid. Super smart, too. Puts me to shame."

“Perhaps the child should be a teacher instead of you?" He gave Addie a devilish grin - a sense of humor, they'd get along nicely.

Adrienne just scrunched his face up at the other - he didn't know much about Kurt and didn't want to provide any of the banter that was attempting to surface. "What I lack in intelligence, I make up for in other skills tenfold." Shit. Whoops, never mind. He accidentally threw in a wink, too.

He was blushing slightly, so Addie turned away to hide it. They both turned to the group as it continued again, but a man in the crowd of non-mutants just a bit larger than Addie puffed out his chest and pushed him aside. He could gather that the man noticed his peculiar look. Adrienne flailed a bit (gracefully), finding only a flimsy rope to hold onto. It didn't stop him on his way to the ground, and Kurt - with reflexes that Adrienne wasn't expecting - grabbed his hand and pulled him back up before he hurt himself. Just in time to -

"Holy sh-" Adrienne squeaked, in shock at the strange texture of the man's skin (was that fur?) - absorbing just a bit about a circus in Germany and a flash of blue from his new comrade. There was a sharp pain in Adrienne's lower back as his spine reformed and a dark blue tail sprouted itself, causing his pants to fit extremely uncomfortably. Growing a new appendage wasn't something Adrienne had done before - erm, unless you counted swapping genders - and it was painful and surprising. He stumbled backwards anyway. "Where the hell did this - " He scrambled to his feet, clutching his surprised stomach with one hand and grabbing onto a conveniently-placed trash can with the other. Of course he'd absorb this part of the new person. Of course he'd be stuck with a tail.

The newly-sprouted tail wrapped around his own arm, and he watched in terror as the world around the two of them froze, completely unaware of the shocked, hysterical mutant. Or the one that had ran up to them just in time to see this happen, and was giggling at them.

"I... Bennie, where did..." Adrienne stood up, collecting himself as the professor wheeled over, his brows furrowed. Shit, he'd already blew it. "Wait, dude... You have a tail?"

"Kurt's wearing a sort of cloaking device to hide his identity from the public. Many people have been alarmed by his appearance in the past." Xavier motioned to the frozen crowd around him, which did not include the children. They were very much mobile. And watching. "I've stopped the people around us, just in case you also cause a scare."

"I've never... grown a tail before," Adrienne took in a deep breath, trying his best to learn to control the damn thing. "Jesus Christ, that's something else."

Kurt looked extremely offended and turned away from the scene.

"Here," Scott came out of nowhere, he must've got the memo that something had happened by the frozen crowd of people around him. He handed Adrienne his coat and motioned for him to tie it around his waist. It would drape over his backside nicely. "Now be careful."

Adrienne hung his head low as the professor announced that it was probably a good time for them to leave since they were all huddled back together. Bennie bounced over to her brother with a big grin, giving him a playful shove. "Don't worry, you'll like it. And if you don't, remember you can - "

"I'll get rid of it eventually, trust me, I know how my own abilities work." He gave Bennie a look, then clutched Scott's jacket tightly. Adrienne suddenly became very conscious of his body. "I guess I didn't think you were serious. You could warn a guy about growing a tail, you know."

“Hey, I told you to keep your hands to yourself."

The professor let out a warning that he was going to unfreeze the people around them, and the children stuck together, out of the way. It must not've been the first time that Xavier had done this.

Now that was power. Adrienne made sure to remember that - maybe it was something he could learn in the future.

They all congregated outside, the children boarding the normal-seeming bus. Adrienne was told to stick behind, but not too closely - they never knew who'd be watching them. Xavier insisted that he could give Addie directions telepathically, but again, he refused the idea of having someone in his head.

"It's really nothing personal, sir. I'm just not exactly a safe mind to play around with. I'll give you all of the details when... There aren't a bunch of kids around. It can get. Well, you know, messy." He offered the professor a sad smile as he untied Scott’s jacket from around his waist. 

"I need this," Scott hissed, taking his jacket off of Adrienne's back. He slung it over his arm without another word, heading to the bus.

"He's really friendly," Addie noted sarcastically when he was out of earshot.

"Forgive him, he's had a lot to deal with recently. A lot of us have. Perhaps you will learn, in time." Xavier gave him a shrug, and an even sadder smile. Addie assumed the worst, he was able to feel the vibes Scott was giving off through their small bond they'd created, it was definitely something bigger than anyone was going to explain.

"Sir... Do you think you could help me with my abilities?" Adrienne rubbed his arm, nervous. "I've picked up a few things that I don't know how to use quite yet, that you'd probably understand… Like, the telepathy..."

"Really?” He nodded. “In due time. Just follow behind us, you will be in good hands. I promise."

Addie thanked his new friend, then returned to his car as he was directed.

"They're all good people," Bennie grinned, reaching out to place a hand on her brother's shoulder to comfort him. "They'll keep me safe. I know they will."

"Are... are we going to be found, Ben?"

"I don't know yet."

"You know what to do when you see them coming, right?" Adrienne sighed, looking over to his sister with sad eyes. "It's me they want. You're going to stay with the school this time, if it'll be safer. I’ll go it alone.”

"I'm not going to let you die.”

“I know, kid,” With the tiniest smile, he took off and followed behind the bus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally don't have a playlist for this fic


	3. Follow Me Down

“I'm sorry professor, but I'm putting my foot down.” Scott crossed his arms and shot him a look. “I know Kurt won't, but I'm not going to, either.”

“Come now, I assure you. He's not all that bad. I haven't found a trace of treachery in the young girl’s mind.”

“Maybe he's not hiding anything important, but I'm not sleeping in the same room as him. I'm not comfortable with him. I'm… getting a weird feeling.” Scott nodded in greeting as a few other X Men entered the room - Xavier had called a few to him to help out with the plans. “Make him sleep on the couch until we figure it out. It's not our fault we didn't know he existed.”

“We've already have room for his sister, it's hardly fair we don't give him the same treatment.” The professor sighed sadly, turning his attention to his now-full room. “I do believe he will bring good to the team. I feel he's more powerful than we anticipate.”

“Are you speaking of the tall man that came with the girl you were looking for? And grew a tail in public?”

“Yes, his name is Adrienne. Storm, could you please give him a tour? All he's seen so far is the outside of the mansion and the garage.” Xavier looked up at her with a smile. “When you're finished, come back here and bring him with you. I'm sure we'll find a bed for him by the time you're done. He should be just outside.”

The mutant known as Storm nodded, then was off to introduce herself to the new recruit properly. She was at the museum, after all. He couldn't be so bad. He was clumsy, but he couldn't be what Scott had been saying the past couple of days. And Kurt might have just been taking things the wrong way. She had high hopes for the young man. 

“What is problem with new recruit?” Tall, strong, Russian. “If I must, I will be in same room. It is not a problem.”

“This guy’s refusing to tell us who he is. You can't trust him.” Scott turned to the professor again. “We can't. It's not worth the risk.”

“I will keep out an eye. Is not a problem, really.”

“That settles it. Thank you, Colossus. I'm sure you won't have to watch him too hard.” Xavier shushed Scott before he said another word, and dismissed the room full of mutants to go back to their regularly scheduled work. 

-

“So it… just makes a bunch of crazy scenarios out of nothing? Just with programming?” Adrienne was staring at the controls of the danger room with wide eyes. “You can… Actually do all this stuff? You can simulate war, and robots, and people?”

“Yes, it's our version of a gymnasium. You'll be shown the inside by the end of the week, I'm sure.” Storm smiled at his fascination. “Come now, I'll show you where your sister is going to have class.”

Adrienne pulled himself away from the danger room, his interest piqued so much more than he thought it would be that day. He followed Storm gladly, taking in her beauty and trying his best to keep his jaw from dropping. He could get used to the view here, at least.

Storm went on about some of the history of the mansion, how it was a secret, but it had its run of chaos. Turns out it had been found by bad guys a few times, but it was still probably the safest place for mutants that was out there. 

“God. I can't believe this place actually exists,” Adrienne looked up in awe at the art on the wall. Class was in session, they were the only two out as they entered one of the halls. “I don't know how to thank you guys for finding us and taking us in.”

“Well, once you're comfortable, you can thank us by helping us out around the mansion. It's your home now, please respect it as such.”

Home.

He stared at her for a moment, and she gave him a puzzled look. After a soft sigh, she frowned at him. “You are hiding from something.”

“I'm hiding from a lot of somethings. I'll give everyone the details soon, I promise. I'm just… Not used to having a home. Not since Ben and I m- since we lived in Utah.” He gave her a sad smile. “I’m just trying to protect what family I have.”

Storm smiled back at him, but hers was genuine. “That's what we're here for. We protect our mutant brothers and sisters.”

“Can I ask… What do you do? You know, to. Protect, and such.”

“I teach many of the classes, and I am the professor’s second in command.” Adrienne gave her a look and she sighed. “In short, I can control the weather.”

“That's wicked,” He grinned, shaking his head. “And that's why they called you Storm.”

“And you are… Able to shape shift?”

“Yeah, that's part of it. Here, may I?” Adrienne made an awkward little motion before he took her hand. She watched as some of his face darkened a bit, then faded back to normal. He took only a small patch of her skin on the outside of his right hand, and it resembled a birthmark. Adrienne let go of her and focused in on what he learned. “Ororo.” _You know, they were right, you are a goddess._ He showed her that he could speak with her telepathically with ease. Though he'd be able to anyway, of course. But what she didn't know couldn't kill her.

_You're incredible,_ She thought, and he thanked her kindly. “Well, that is the end of the tour. The professor wanted to see you. Come, I’ll take you to him.”

“Lead the way.”

They walked back to Xavier’s office, and Storm left him there with a sweet smile. He opened the door, letting out a soft, “You wanted to see me, professor?”

“Yes, I did. About the living situation. Each member of our team sleeps in a room with another. We had to do some switching around, but both you and Bennie have places to sleep now. Bennie is off unpacking her things in her room, if you'd like, I'll show you to her. Then, I will bring you to your own room. You will be rooming with Peter, also known as Colossus. I believe you two will get along well.”

It started sinking in again that Xavier was trusting him with his staff. Sleeping in the same room, even. Was he put there to watch him, maybe?

Was this a ruse to get him to fall asleep and become vulnerable? He'd probably have to sleep with one eye open. 

“Come, I will escort you personally. But first, I want to show you something.”

Adrienne followed next to the professor closely, taking in the sight of all the youngsters that ran out of their classes as the bells rang. “There's a lot more kids here than I thought there would be.”

“And every one of them has a place, no matter how strong or frail they or their abilities are.” The professor stopped in front of an elevator, looking over at Adrienne seriously. “I've decided to trust you with this. I hope, once I show you our secret, that you will also trust me.”

“There's another secret? You mean, aside from the hidden jet and the gymnasium that acts as a virtual reality bullet hell video game?”

“Yes,” he said simply, entering the elevator. Adrienne followed behind him, a little scared of where he was going. 

Usually, things didn't end well in situations like this.

Though, Adrienne felt almost… Safe with Xavier. He began to wonder if he was being screwed with somehow. He kept his guard up in case the elevator opened to expose that he'd been left in a trap. He almost expected the professor to leap out of his chair and attack. 

He stood his ground as the doors opened, relaxing as they both got out and made their way down the hall. Storm hadn't shown Adrienne this area.

“We locate mutants to join our team or to keep them safe by amplifying my own telepathic powers. Usually, I am able to detect any mutant on the planet. I've always been able to, except for two cases. One, someone who knows about this device has created a helmet to keep me out. And two,” He turned his chair so that he was facing Adrienne at the end of the hall. “A mysterious young man with unknown abilities housing a teenage mutant with the gift of foresight.”

Adrienne bowed his head. 

“Now, to make sure we trust each other, I haven't done any further digging into her mind either.” Xavier turned his chair to a door that was built into the wall, looking into a censor and allowing the door to open. “But from what I can see, she trusts that you are an honest man, and that you have the potential in your heart to do good. Here, in this facility, we provide a safe place for our youngsters to learn, and a place for the adults to train. Our goal is to use our abilities to benefit mankind, to serve and protect both mutants and humans. And this,” He motioned for Adrienne to follow him into the strange, gigantic, spherical room that was occupied only by a walkway in the middle. “This is cerebro, the device we use to locate people of our kind.”

He lifted up a device at the end of the walkway, placing it on his head. “Please, hold as still as you can.”

Holding his breath, Adrienne did as he was told and released it with a shudder as the room filled with lights.

“Each of these lights represent a person.” Most of the lights dimmed. “These are the mutants. At least, the ones I can see.” Xavier zoomed into a cluster of the lights, making them easily identifiable as children, though the faces were unclear at first. 

Adrienne felt something inside himself, in his core. “That's Ben,” He said, pointing at the one at the far right. He screwed up his face, unsure of why he was so certain.

Xavier zoomed in more, showing that he was correct. She was outside with a group of teenagers, and Adrienne could feel that she felt safe. He smiled. 

“Yes, and this… Is me, here.” He zoomed into himself, showing that there was only one light… There was only one person there. “What I want to know is how you aren't showing up.”

“I'm… Professor, I'm hiding from someone that's looking for me.”

“And may I ask why?”

“Something about my bloodline being too powerful, I guess, sir. I've never had the chance to ask, they don't seem much for conversation." He sighed. “I believe that they have a telepath looking for me, too.”

“You are shielding yourself because you are afraid of being hunted?”

“Basically, yeah.” Adrienne trusted him fully now, he decided. “They already killed my parents and my brother.”

“And you want to protect your sister?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You'll be happy to know about our own cloaking device that protects a ten mile area around the mansion, then.” He turned his head to shoot a quick smile at Adrienne. “We don't like being found either.”

In order to have his complete trust, Adrienne knew what he had to do. As soon as Xavier turned back around, he did something he hadn't in what felt like centuries. 

“Check where you are again, professor.”

Xavier did just that, zooming in on both himself… And what appeared to be a young woman. He looked behind him at the new face as Adrienne shivered from fear.

“I see.”


	4. Too Afraid to Come Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrienne allows Xavier into his mind.  
> Bennie is getting along with her peers.   
> And apparently, Adrienne can teleport.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning!
> 
> There is talk of suicide now and again from here on out.

_“Lily, dear, get the door.”_

_A very young girl, maybe ten years old, named Lily stood and obeyed the middle-aged woman in the rocking chair, peacefully working on the cross stitched hand towel. She opened the door and smiled at the man in front of her before she flung herself into his arms. “Uncle Adrienne!”_

_“Hey, kiddo!” Adrienne Stone was also middle-aged, wearing a crisp grey suit and an outdated hat. “Is your pop home from poker yet? I need to go over some paperwork.”_

_“No, but momma’s home,” She couldn't have been ten years old yet. “Mom, it's uncle Addie!”_

_Lily’s mother rose, a wide grin on her face. “Here about that deal with the man in Austin?”_

_“Yeah, God, you made a good choice marrying into my family - that house is easily three times the size as this one. I can't believe he landed the deal, the seller must be crazy.”_

_“It's pure salesman skill,” Lily’s mother chuckled, giving him a wink. He offered her a nice, exaggerated eye roll. It was definitely more than skill. “Sweetie, go get your brother. I'm going to get out that ice cream I promised to celebrate as soon as your father gets home. It should be any minute.”_

_Again, Lily did as she was told. Excited about ice cream, she skipped down the hall to her brother’s room, knocking on the door loudly. “Darren! Come out! We're going to have that ice cream!”_

_No answer._

_“Darren?”_

_After a few more knocks, Lily became tired of waiting and opened the door. “I don't like this game. Come here and -”_

_Darren Stone was draped over the desk in his bedroom, which was covered in blood. With another look, she saw that his arms were where it came from. It was almost as if he tried to slice both from wrist to elbow._

_Lily, horrified, took slow steps toward him. “D-Darren? Are you okay? There's ice cream…” She looked at the desk, which only had one blood soaked paper that said “I'm sorry” on it. She placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking him a bit._

_A deep grunt escaped her brother’s mouth, and she gasped. He sat up straight, then rubbed at one of his eyes tiredly._

_“Didn't work again?” The little girl asked, no emotion in her voice._

_“I don't think it'll ever work.” Darren looked down at his wrists, which were almost completely healed. “Here, I'll be out in a minute. I need to change. Don't tell mom, okay?”_

_Lily nodded. “It's your favorite, I made sure she got your favorite.” He said nothing in return as she left the room and closed the door behind her._

Xavier took his hands off of Adrienne’s temples, feeling that it was getting stressful for him. He let the other take a moment to calm down, and after a few moments, they sat up and transformed back into their male body. 

“You still want me to call you Adrienne, correct?"

“Yes, professor. I don't think Lily exists anymore, if I'm being honest.” He stood up, rubbing at his head. “It's been a long time since I've let someone in there.”

“I appreciate you allowing me to see.” Xavier wheeled back over to his desk, going through papers that someone set there before he and Adrienne's session began. “I'm sorry I didn't go any farther, I didn't want to cause you any more discomfort than you have already been through.”

“Thank you. You know, it's actually kind of nice to have someone take a peek. Sometimes I wonder if I even remember things correctly, I feel like I've blocked most of it out.” He screwed up his face a bit. “But Darren, I'll always remember Darren.”

Xavier wanted to ask how Adrienne’s brother was killed, but didn't want to press anymore that day. He'd find out eventually. This was only their third meeting, after all. The first two were just verbal, mostly Xavier talking to Adrienne about his own life. “How do you like your roommate?”

“Pete? He's great. I feel like maybe he doesn't hate me.”

“Of course he doesn't, he's -”

The bell rang, interrupting him rudely. Adrienne looked at him with a bit of desperation, now bouncing on the balls of his feet. Xavier gave him a small, sarcastic sigh.

“You're dismissed.”

“See you tomorrow!” Addie shouted as he raced out the door, his tail accidentally thwacking against the doorframe.

“You're much too old to be reminded that there's no running in the halls, Adrienne!”

But he was already too far gone, racing down the hall with a big, doofy grin. Once he saw Bennie with her group of friends, he raced toward them…

...and ended up in front of them a lot faster than he anticipated. 

He wasn't sure what happened, only that his entire body was on fire, he felt the burns on his skin. The hallway smelled of smoke, and he cried out in pain. He fell to the ground, trying to hide his face from the rest of the teenagers as his skin healed.

“Adrienne, what the hell?” Bennie hit the floor, her hands on Adrienne, trying to tear his hands away to see his face. “What just happened? Are you okay?”

“If that didn't fucking hurt, that would've been quite a rush,” Adrienne panted, sitting up and squeezing his eyes shut. “God damn, I must've picked it up.”

“You've gotta stop trying to make bonds before you make friends, idiot,” Bennie helped her brother to his feet, his tail helping him get his balance back again. “At least you're not smacking people with that anymore. Have you even talked to that guy you got it from?”

“No,” He admitted with a frown. “I've heard he doesn't really like me.”

“He doesn't really,” One of the teenagers piped up - Adrienne didn't know her well, but Bennie told him that this one, the girl she was with most, was Kitty.

“Ah well, not everybody's gonna love everybody.” He shrugged, then put his hand on Bennie’s shoulder. “Do you know what today is?”

“October fifth?”

“Yeah, but the other thing. The thing that'll progress the plot.”

“Oh. Right, they're showing us that room today.”

“Come on, let's go!” Adrienne pulled at his sister’s arm, and she gave her new friends a sad grin as she was dragged away. 

“I don't get why you're so excited about this,” Bennie ripped her arm away, power walking alongside her brother. “We're just watching, it's not like they'd -” She stopped in the middle of the hallway, her eyes glazing over for a few moments. When she came to, her jaw dropped. “You're going to try to go into the room! You're a fricking show-off.”

“None of them know what I can actually do,” Adrienne raced ahead of his sister, entering the elevator first. “The only one that has a clue other than the professor is Storm. Or, I guess, whoever saw me in the hallway.”

Bennie made a pleased little noise. “I really like Storm.”

“She’s way too old for you, kid.”

“Hey, a girl can dream!”

As soon as the doors opened, Adrienne booked it toward the area overlooking the danger room, Bennie trying to keep up. Storm was waiting for them and smiled at the enthusiasm. 

“You two will stay here and watch for now. I will be joining the others inside, please stay put until the exercise is over.” She gave Adrienne a beautiful smile, walking away with eloquence that could only be described as her own. 

“I love this place,” Bennie sighed, and Adrienne let out a snort he was holding back as soon as the teacher was out of earshot. 

They both glued their eyes to the action through the window, watching as the empty room around a group of five mutants including Storm, that guy Adrienne got his tail from - Kurt, Colossus, one of the kids Bennie hung out with, and Scott, or Cyclops, as he was called, turned into a battlefield. Apparently, this was training the kid more than anything. It seemed they decided that giant robots were their enemies this round.

“Dylan said this was their fifth time in there,” Bennie explained to Adrienne as her friend bounced on their feet. “They got pulled out of class early so they could get ready.”

“What do they do?”

Adrienne got his answer as the lanky, yellow-clad teenager with typical emo hair zipped out of the way of a robot’s fist. “Ah, I see. He's pretty fast.”

The duo watched in awe as Colossus did his thing, turning his body into solid metal and slamming a boulder into one of the foes’ faces. Cyclops did the eye laser thing, as to be expected, and was barking orders, also to be expected.

“Hey, look, that's where you got the teleporting thing from,” Bennie pointed out Kurt as he disappeared from where he was. His fighting style was almost beautiful, the way he seemed to help the others, and the almost acrobatic way he flung himself here and there. Adrienne wondered if he could mimic his fighting style through their bond.

Adrienne was wishing he was down there, so badly that -

Well, it happened. 

Adrienne fell to the ground and let out a girly screech, dirt scraping against his now-burned skin. His face only took a few moments to heal, and he looked up in the direction from which he came - but he couldn't see Bennie. The room must completely block everything else out.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Scott roared at Adrienne, who lifted his hands up innocently. 

“I don't know! Apparently I can teleport now!” He screamed back. As soon as the foes noticed the fresh meat, he got up and started racing toward Cyclops for cover. Adrienne focused on the one spot he knew he could transform into metal like Colossus as he ran - his left arm. When it was finished doing its thing, he turned back around and he saw an opportunity, so he ran straight back after one of the programmed monstrosities and slammed his fist into its middle.

Adrienne let his arm go back to normal, then leapt to the side as the now-injured robot-whatever flung a boulder at him. He focused on his bond with Scott, causing his eyes to well up in pain, and then release a great power, slicing off the enemy’s arm. He raced to lift it, doing so with ease, and then used it to knock the hunk of metal into its back. Adrienne’s eyes glazed for a moment, then he let his arm turn to metal again and lifted it, allowing the sharp bone in his wrist extend (also metal, he was glad it wasn't just the outside of his anatomy that did the whole, tough shiny thing) and pierced through an enemy that was blown back toward him by someone's attack.

The room grew quiet as the simulation ended, and Adrienne relaxed himself back into his normal state. He turned and broke the bone protruding out of his wrist off, groaning loudly. He disposed of it with a blast from his eyes, shattering it, and turned to face the others. “Well, that was just as cool as I thought it would be!”

“How in the -” Colossus relaxed as well, stomping over to Adrienne and examining his arm. “You said you kept something of mine. You kept…?”

“I'm like a sponge,” Adrienne shrugged. “I kept part of your ability to do, you know, what you do. As well as the ear apparently, thank you.”

“So you got Kurt’s tail, and his ability to teleport,” Storm was fascinated again, floating - no literally, was she levitating? - over to Adrienne. “And that's how you ended up in here?”

“Yeah. I didn't even know until just a bit ago. I guess I was too excited, and it just. Happened.” He looked over to the blue mutant and gave him a tiny smile. “Hurts like hell, man. I don't know how you do it so well. You too, Scott. Damn, I'm going to have a headache for the rest of the day.”

“We get used to it.” Cyclops still wasn't his biggest fan. “I guess we're done. Storm, you take it from here. I have things I have to do.” He placed a hand on the kid - Dylan’s - shoulder before he walked out.

Adrienne reluctantly padded over to Kurt. “How are you able to do it so gracefully?”

“It doesn't hurt,” He replied simply.

“Oh,” Adrienne nodded, not sure of what else to say.

“Well, I guess you've tried out the danger room now, Adrienne,” Storm grinned. “And you did quite well. Perhaps I'll show you how to run your own exercises. The rest of you, you're dismissed.”

“That'd be excellent,” He perked back up. “Wait, Ben’s still in the observation area, I should -”

“I'll keep her company, don't worry!” Dylan gave him a little wink, then was gone.

“Promised Katya I would return,” Colossus followed suit, exiting a lot slower than the other.

“Nightcrawler?” Storm addressed Kurt. 

“I should go too, yeah?” He sighed, giving Adrienne a look he wasn't sure of. He looked like he had to say something, but was gone in a puff of smoke before Addie could ask.

“Come, let me show you.”

Adrienne followed her, still wondering what the look was about.


	5. I Never Told You What I do for a Living

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of Adrienne's past is uncovered.  
> He's not having a very good day.  
> Bennie is wrong for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, suicide trigger warning!

_The past few days, Professor X was being shown other times Lily’s brother attempted suicide to no avail, and how it was always her that found him. Adrienne showed him their father landing incredible deals with people selling property, and even more incredible deals with people looking to buy. He watched as they moved into the mansion only slightly smaller than his own, complete with gates and the works._

_He watched Lily in high school, the first time she crashed her bike on her way home and watched as her scraped knee slowly healed itself. It was nowhere near as fast as say, a certain other mutant’s regenerative abilities, but it was there. Or when she tried to get her tongue pierced (her nose, lip, and other places were already taken), and it healed too quickly for the tattooed punk trying to get the needle through to do anything about it. “Babe, I'm so sorry… I don't think I can do it this time.”_

_He watched as Lily would wake up with bruises she couldn't explain, only to see that her mother had matching ones. She would get pains in her wrists every once in awhile, or cuts down her thighs. She asked her brother if he was cutting, and he was. She was getting the same injuries as those she bonded with. She was lucky her brother gave her the power of regeneration, no matter how slow it took._

_Xavier then watched Lily look in the mirror as she was applying makeup before her seventeenth birthday dinner, and how she saw her mother’s face instead of her own looking back at her. She screamed, and her mother came running into the bathroom to see it._

_“Oh no,” She dropped to her knees, holding her daughter’s - her own - face in her hands. “No, not you too… Not my baby…”_

_He watched as Lily’s mother cried, saying she didn't want her child to be burdened with this curse. Lily asked what was so wrong, and her mother came clean. In short, she could morph into anyone she saw. She couldn't imitate voices, but she transformed into her daughter and gave her a sad smile. Powers exist. They were known as mutants. She had abilities, her husband had them, and she must've passed hers down._

_“Is that where Darren got his?”_

_She wasn't supposed to tell her mother. She always knew that. But it was time she knew, her twenty-something year old deadbeat son was only that depressed because he wanted to die and was unable to. It was only fitting that that day, he shot himself in the head. Both ladies ran to him, and when he came to and his body healed in record time, he looked at them like they were strangers._

Who?  
Where?

_“We're your family,” Lily said aloud, not understanding that she heard Darren's broken thoughts and that he said nothing._

Who?

_Xavier could feel her heart break. There were tears of fear in her mother's eyes. Flash forward._

-

“Adrienne, are you comfortable with me pressing further?”

“Yeah, Charles. Please do.” They'd spent enough time together to be on first-name basis. Adrienne was thinking of Xavier as more of a friend than a professor. 

“Very well.” Xavier placed his fingers back at Adrienne's temples, their hair that was a bit longer in this form getting in the way.

-

_Finally, Xavier can see who must be Lily’s father pacing in front of a fireplace. “They know. They figured us out, Martha. They found us. They've got Adrienne. If I don't give up myself and the money, they'll...”_

_“How? How the hell did they find out? It's been so long… How could…” Lilly's mother was hysterical. “You said you wiped all of their memories!”_

_“So, I forgot one. Didn't think it would be a problem. They must've hired another telepath, because they fucking found me. I could feel them in my head. They looked around and fucking found what they were searching for, simple as that.” He was tall, built like a fighter, with soulless eyes and that shade of grey hair that only comes when you've been stressed out from the cradle. “We need to either give them the money back, or they'll kill us.”_

_Lily was hiding behind a wall, sitting on the ground and hugging her knees._

They'll kill us all. They'll kill the kids.   
We need to get the kids out of the house.   
We need to protect our family. 

_Those were the mother’s thoughts. The father’s head was swimming full of thoughts of money, her bond was so weak that she had to focus completely on him. As soon as she started making out clear words, he ran and kicked the wall next to her as hard as he possibly could._

_“Stay the fuck out of my head, bitch!” He spat at her, and she clutched her knees tighter. “Since when can you do that? Who the fuck do you think you are?”_

_“That is your daughter!” Lily’s mother cried as her father kicked at her again, this time landing it on her and causing her to scream. He went to kick her a final time, but she caught his leg, held on, and created a stronger bond with him. Lily hadn't spent any time with him for months. She saw how he got all the money - he was lying. Real estate agent by day, assassin for a group of extremists by night up until they moved to Texas._  
He was a terrorist.   
Lily let go of the monster, wondering if her mother ever knew. 

_Darren appeared in the hallway, far gone and silent. He had been mute since he attempted suicide the last time. His memories were gone, he was a shell of himself, but he knew to protect the girl. His thoughts were broken, half-complete. He moved slowly, his mouth usually hanging agape. Most times, he was gentle and stayed away. But this time, he leapt at his father, going for the throat._

_“Darren, no!” Lily’s mother tried pulling him off, but wasn't strong enough._

_Lily’s father got into the man’s mind with ease, and he stood. The asshole looked his son in the eye and punched him straight in the face, breaking his nose and causing a tooth to fling onto the floor._

_Darren spat out some blood, then looked directly at his father as his nose healed and his split lip stopped bleeding. His father’s jaw dropped. “You never told me…”_

_Lily could feel her mother’s pain, every ounce of it. She could feel her memories of getting black eyes and bruises on her wrists from her husband, and a tear streamed down her face. Why could she see all of this? Why did this have to happen now?_

_There was a little red dot on her arm, as if someone was using a laser pointer. “Mom…” She muttered, just before a bullet tore into her._

_The next bit of whatever happened was fuzzy because of her blood loss and how slowly she regenerated, but the professor saw as heavily armed men came in and slaughtered Lily’s mother. Lily felt every time the bullets dug into her. She felt every shot through her skull. And then, she felt her slip away._

_She watched from the floor as they attempted to kill her brother, over and over again, to no avail. She felt the cuffs on his wrists, she felt the pain in her father’s head as he attempted to control all of the people around him. He didn't take in account that there was a sniper, and Lily felt the bullet go through his brain. She almost instantly was barraged with the thoughts of all the men around her, all of which were trying to figure out how to kill this last one._

_They figured it out._

_Lily watched from the floor as the men began to dismember the poor black-haired, handicapped mutant, and each terrorist set their piece of him on fire. She forced her eyes shut as she watched them pat each other on the back._

_How were these people so proud of themselves?_

_She did her best to transform into one of the men that slashed at her mother with her remaining energy, though it was hard to do so with the pain of the fire her brother was feeling… Until he finally slipped away. She was stronger as her body began to heal itself, and soon, the pain was gone. The men saw Lily run away, and one began to chase after her. He shot her square in the back, and she pretended to be done for. They began to leave, figuring the fire would get rid of the evidence._

_That moment was the point in her life where she was never injured again._

_She got to her feet once they were out of sight and ran as far as possible, listening to the murderers’ thoughts of victory and of how they were able to slaughter this entire family, excluding their bargaining chip, Adrienne, as long as she could._

_She ran and ran and ran and… Gave up after a few miles and collapsed into a heap. She allowed herself to transform back into who she really was and wept, for her family, from the pain she just went through, from how tired her muscles were, from confusion. Where did she go now? Where did she belong?_

-

“Adrienne,” Xavier pulled his hands away, snapping back into reality and frowning at the tears streaming down Addie's face. “I'm so sorry.”

“I-it's - God, it's nothing you could've done to stop. It's alright.” They stayed in their more feminine body for a while longer this time, wiping their eyes and trying to stop the tears from coming. “Just know that if I find whoever did it, I'm going to destroy them, just like they did to my family.”

“Your father, he…?”

“All I know is that he was payed a lot of money - and I mean a lot - to take down mutants for this group of people. He'd just, get into their heads and make them kill themselves. And he'd profit.” Adrienne held their head in their hands. “He killed so many of our kind, just… Just for money…”

“Adrienne, you are not your father. You can do good in this world, I can see it in you.”

The bell rang, and though Adrienne was supposed to be in the danger room for the third time, they stayed in the seat. “Professor, can you… Can you look a little more? We're already so far. I need you to know who I am.”

“You need to take a break, Adrienne. I will see, in time. But I refuse to make you live through everything again, in one sitting.” He wheeled backward, letting out a long sigh. “I appreciate your trust, truly. But we both need to think some happy thoughts now.”

“Happy thoughts,” Adrienne snorted, then sat up and stretched their thinner, tattooed arms. “I'll need a cigarette or ten before those’ll start.”

A knock on the door alerted Adrienne and he shifted back into his favorite body. He rubbed at his brow bones, which were sore after the morph, then got up to answer the door for the professor upon his request. 

“Howdy, Dr. McCoy!” He grinned, opening the door for the large, blue Beastly mutant so that he could enter. 

“Good afternoon, Adrienne. Aren't you supposed to be…?”

“Yeah, Chuck and I were just. You know, having a telepathy training session.” He shrugged, looking at the professor to help him find words. “I probably should go see to it, shouldn't I?”

“I do have some things dealing with... students I'd like to bring to his attention. I'd like to speak to him alone.” Adrienne had bonded with Beast, as anyone could tell with the new set of fangs. He knew that the teacher was up to something, but it felt like something positive, so he just said his goodbye to Xavier and opted to leave the room. 

Not five steps down the hall, and Adrienne let out a shrill scream, falling to the ground. 

Blood was pouring from his mouth almost instantly, and he felt his stomach open. Blood gushed through his shirt and he fell to a heap on the ground, howling in pain and shock. His hands gripped at the gash, that didn't seem to be healing as fast as it should. Or, from the sensation he was getting, whoever he bonded with was getting bombarded time after time.

He let out another scream, not sure of what to do. The only thing he could sense was pain, and he scrambled on the ground for some sort of grounding. Adrienne screamed again, the bone claw from either wrist extending and scraping onto the tiles on the ground. 

He realized the mutant he'd bonded with was capable of healing, too - it wasn't going to stop any time soon. He always got himself in trouble.

“I'm too late!” Bennie was running down the hall, a couple of her friends trailing behind. 

“Oh my stars - what's happening?” Beast and Xavier gawked at the scene in front of them, and soon Adrienne's writhing had a decent audience. 

“Addie, stop, shh… Let him go,” Bennie had seen this going on earlier, much earlier. Possibly a year ago, now. In one of the windows she saw long ago, this ended… Rather badly for her. She kneeled down to hesitantly put her hands on Adrienne's face, making him look up at her. Maybe that wasn't the best idea, but maybe she could stop that future from happening. “Come back to me. You're in the mansion. You're still with me, Adrienne. You need to let go of your bond with him. Now.”

“Knows… Something,” He choked out, wrapping his bloody arms around his stomach. 

“No, he doesn't,” She had seen a future earlier that week, one that disproved her suspicion that the bond would be important. The two met through assassination missions - more than once, they'd crossed paths. It was never pleasant for either when they did. “I was wrong, okay. I was wrong.”

In fact, since their first meeting and Adrienne's bond with a mutant named Daken, this wasn't the only time he'd had trouble like this. Usually, when bonded to another mutant, Adrienne would get bruises that would fade almost instantly. Sometimes, he'd get gashes, scrapes, cuts. But with his healing factor, they'd be gone. They were annoying and common, but they never really bothered him.

Then, there was his bond with Daken. The only thing he got in return was a sharp bone that extended from each of his wrists and some memories from Japan. In a few of the windows Bennie saw since she was maybe thirteen, they teamed up in the future to destroy some sort of terrorist organization. Or at least, someone with claws and a healing factor. 

He fit the bill.

Adrienne looked up at Bennie, confused, and let go of his bond. The claws from his wrist detracted - which was fucking great, every time they'd accidentally extended, he'd just have to break them off. He hadn't figured out how to get rid of them. Then, slowly, the shape and color of his brown eye changed to the body's original blue one. 

Adrienne stopped bleeding, and felt his stomach start to heal correctly. He sat up, rubbing at it as the pain subsided.

“Alright, now I really need a cigarette.” He smiled sadly up at the horrified spectators, shaking his head. “You guys can go, I'll be alright. Don't worry.”

“Adrienne, care to explain what just happened?” Beast was kneeling down next to Bennie, eyes wide. 

“He bonded with this evil dude that gets into a lot of trouble and heals. I thought he was going to be important someday, but I was wrong. Because I saw another window about your, ah… Partner.” Bennie grimaced. “He doesn't look like you described. And… He walked into this mansion as if he belonged here.”

“What do you mean, not what you - ”

Bennie reached out to take Adrienne's hand, pulling it up to her temple. “Take a look.”

He did as he was told, looking for her memory of her window. This was a new trick they'd learned in their time in the mansion, and it was pretty damn useful. Adrienne saw the mutant she was describing walk into the mansion with absolutely no trouble. He saw a fragment of him laughing with the group, then enter the danger room. He looked… different. He seemed to be built the same and there were definite reasons the two would be confused, but… He definitely wasn't Daken. 

“You've never been wrong before,” Adrienne pulled his hand away, shaking his head. “But I'm glad you were, I hated that guy.”

“I'm just happy that I figured it out before it was too late. That other dude can't die, but he gets pretty close. And almost took you… And me with him.” Bennie let out a sigh, smiling, happy with herself. “Maybe I shouldn't have gotten so close to you, in one of the futures I saw, you slashed at me. Funny, right?”

She didn't see the look on Adrienne's face.

“Are you sure you're alright? Do you need medical attention?” Beast asked, helping Adrienne up to his feet. 

“Nah, one of the things I've collected over the years makes that pretty useless. I'm almost all the way healed up. I mean, I need a change of clothes, I guess. And maybe a mop.” He helped Bennie up, too, who thanked him quietly. “I have to hurry up and do that, I've got a date with danger.”

Dr. McCoy gawked at him as he and the remaining few crowding the hallway walked away, Adrienne seemingly unharmed though he was covered in his own blood.

“That boy is full of surprises, isn't he?”

“You have no idea,” The professor answered his friend, wheeling back into the room. “Now, about those uniforms.”


	6. Imprisoned Inside this Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Adrienne's backstory.  
> He's hiding a few secrets, even from himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major trigger warning! Again, suicide, and this time, rape is mentioned.

_Lily hitchhiked her way across Texas, going as far up and west as she could, doing unspeakable things (and people) on her way there - changing the way she looked slightly every time she looked for a new car. Once she was in Monroe, Utah, she figured she was far enough and it was time to stop running._

_At first, she tried morphing to look like older men and looked for jobs, but it was difficult when she couldn't produce paperwork. She decided to show who she truly was, aside from her hair and eye color and found an orphanage near the city - a girl’s orphanage, that took her in with open arms. It seemed a lot better than the halfway houses she'd been at - she still looked roughly sixteen._

_Lily was able to act well enough for it to be believable that she was always living in homes like those, and she took up calling herself Chelsea Hart, just because she liked the name. One of the ladies tried searching for her in multiple databases to see if she was ever in homes before, but Lily tapped into her father's memories that were a part of her… And she used the same “persuasion” he had on the poor woman to have her drop the search completely._

_Lily - or Chelsea now - found out that she was, indeed, a healer, a shapeshifter, and a telepath all wrapped into one sad bundle._

_That night, she was given a cot in a room with three other girls. Two of their beds were close and the preteens whispered maliciously at each other as “Chelsea” sat down and introduced herself to the grey-haired little girl with one grey and one green eye that actually smiled at her. It was the first act of genuine friendliness she'd seen in what felt like a lifetime._

_“Hi, I'm Bennie. What's your name?”_

_The tips of Chelsea’s hair were grey the next day. She and Bennie had held hands as they walked across the street and someone in an SUV didn't pay attention and almost killed them, and Chelsea/Lily snagged Bennie away and into safety._

_They were bonded from then on._

_Through their bond, Chelsea saw Bennie’s parents die in an accident right out of her home's front window, and the tears in her aunt’s eyes as little Bennie snuck and listened to her talking to the police through a crack in the door. “She's one of them. Just like her father. I want her gone, too.”_

_Chelsea wondered if the accident wasn't an accident, after all._

_Bennie began having nightmares after a few months. She would wake Chelsea up and cry, saying that she dreamt a fire took the orphanage. Chelsea told her it was silly, that only happens in sad stories or movies._

_After weeks of her having those nightmares, as they often do in sad stories like this one, the orphanage caught on fire. Bennie pulled Chelsea's hand and dragged her out into the street like she saw in her dreams, and she collapsed in a fit of sobs._

_I knew it was going to happen. I saw it. How did I see it?_

_“It's because you're special, like me,” Chelsea whispered to her. “Maybe we were supposed to find each other.”_

_Bennie’s eyes opened wide as she realized what had happened. She hadn't said it out loud. She took her friend’s hand, and they started running directionlessly._

_-_

_While walking around a farmer’s market in southern New Mexico, Chelsea/Lily spotted a particularly good-looking man with broad shoulders and a nice jawline. She bumped into him, muttered a soft ‘excuse me!’ and kept the image of him in her mind._

_Taking a bite of an apple Bennie swiped for her as they walked out of the crowd, Lily/Chelsea morphed into the boy she bumped into. Her friend noted that they had the same nose and a similar, pasty skin tone and they decided it would be fitting that they could pass for brother and sister._

_The duo hitchhiked back to Lily’s hometown with her new persona, who they both now referred to as ‘Patrick,’ after one of the drivers that brought them along. Chelsea/Lily/Patrick was amazed by the difference between the drivers from their first trip, until they remembered they were no longer a teenage girl on her own._

_The world is sick, twisted._

_How many times had they been raped?_

_They made the decision that they never wanted to be a woman again. Patrick was lying on the ground in a nice old man’s house next to the couch Bennie was lying on when he told her the story of how he came to the orphanage, and she placed a hand on his shoulder as he cried. He never had to do that again, not while they're together._

_Bennie had a dream about a man named Adrienne that night. She dreamt he was in a suit, that he was a real estate agent, and that she had a conversation with him about a miniature Australian Shepherd puppy. Patrick was amazed by her story, hopeful that it was another vision and that Adrienne was, in fact, his uncle. With their thumbs out on the interstate, they caught a truck headed to Dallas. Patrick looked him up on a computer in the first library they found, jaw hanging slightly agape when his profile came up and it was exactly who he thought it was. He called the number on his website and posed as a young man looking for a home, and they had a showing booked for that night._

_Patrick paid for a taxi with some of his remaining money that he got working the street as a busty, middle-aged redhead in Flagstaff, Arizona and soon he and Bennie were standing before a cute two-bedroom tucked away behind a bigger estate. Adrienne pulled in only a few minutes after they arrived. He held his hand out for Patrick after a polite greeting, and he slowly morphed into his old, Lily-shaped body._

_Adrienne fell to a heap onto the ground._

_When he came to, Adrienne woke up resting against a tree. “You're like them, but… How… How are you still alive?”_

_Patrick grew weary of others over the past year and a half and searched through his uncle’s mind for some sort of clue that he was behind his family’s murder. Thankfully (shockingly) he found nothing. Patrick told him almost everything (minus how he got to the orphanage and the prostitution) and shed a few tears. Adrienne held him close. He even called him by his new, preferred name._

_After the family was gone, Adrienne told him, the mercenaries raided their house and stole all of the money they could find before the fire got too out of hand, as well as the gold that Patrick's father kept in the safe. Adrienne was being held hostage, but had no recollection of anything besides waking up in a dark room and then waking up in his own home later. After admitting that he was like his father, Patrick offered to look and see if there was any other telepath in his mind before him._

_He found his father's influence, no surprises there. He probably kept money from him. But then, he traced another's, too strong for him to figure out. He couldn't break through whatever barrier they put in his uncle’s mind. Adrienne would most likely never be able to tell Patrick who took him or why._

_He told Patrick and Bennie that he always knew his brother was a telepath - ever since they were teenagers, he was able to communicate with him wordlessly. Adrienne, however, never got any powers. He was always very jealous, especially when Patrick's father met his wife through an underground mutant help group, which turned out to be a group of powers for hire._

_Adrienne offered to drive the duo to his home so that they could meet his girlfriend, his one year old daughter, and his puppy - a miniature Australian Shepherd._

_They stayed there for a week before someone was in Adrienne’s home with a pistol to his head. That, consequently, was the day Bennie warned her new brother that maybe he should take his new form instead of his Lily-shaped one like he'd been doing. He looked to her when the man roared to whoever was in his earpiece that she was the wrong girl. Bennie’s eyes were glazed over and she was completely entranced, Patrick couldn't even break through to read her mind or snap her out of it telepathically. He threatened the man with the gun, went to use his influence to have him hand it over. But the man moved too fast and Patrick wasn't very good at controlling bodies entirely, and he filled Adrienne with bullets at the same time that he shot Patrick - one gun in each hand._

_They (whoever “they” ended up being) were getting better soldiers. That was a great sign._

_While he gripped at the hole in his stomach, Patrick watched the man light a Molotov cocktail, throwing it against the wall. In the wisps of the flames, he ran off with a booming ‘There's still one left. We will find her. I know, but I set them on fire too. I…”_

_They knew. They fucking knew how strong the Stone family was. Could that be all they were looking to do? To wipe out that family because they were too strong? Was there something bigger going on? Why didn't he go after Bennie? Did he think that they'd both die in the fire? Did he figure they were too weak to escape?_

_Once she was out of her spell, Bennie fell to the floor before the now-healed Patrick could catch her. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “I know how I die.”_

_-_

_Patrick had taken the name Adrienne and decided that his life goal was to find whoever killed his family and take out every last one that caused him pain. He'd been hired muscle before, but he'd never killed._

_He could change that, easily._

_Adrienne didn't know where to start. As he and Bennie were in another library and hiding from the rain, they decided it was time to run again. Adrienne pulled up a map of Texas and asked Bennie where she most wanted to go, she needed to get back to school. In another year, she'd start high school! Even if he was hellbent on revenge, Adrienne had his priorities._

_Bennie pointed to Austin, and her eyes went misty. After a few moments, she shook her head. “If we go there, they'll kill me. They have people hired to kill us in Texas. You won't even find who hurt your uncle, you'll just be alone. They'll find out that your Addie body is a mutant, too.”_

_Adrienne stared at Bennie with wide eyes. “How do you know that?”_

_“I just looked… And I saw you turn into Lily and they found us. They took us, and they didn't know how to kill you so they killed me. We can't stay.”_

_Adrienne sighed loudly. “Well then, where else do we go? Do you think you can do the looking thing again?”_

_Bennie tried her best to look, but her ability was so new she had no idea how to use it. She got a few broken pieces of a nationwide issue involving whoever it was going after them. They decided anywhere in the country was going to be correct. Instead of doing any more research, she pointed out that New York seemed to be where all super villains hung out in movies. What if that's what it's like in real life?_

_“Fuck it, why not?”_

_Adrienne used his influence over an unsuspecting salesperson and scored a crappy red station wagon, which got a plate slapped on it, free of charge. He felt wrong going after anything of actual worth, hopefully this rust bucket would make it to New York._

_It did._

_Adrienne got Bennie into high school since she didn't have to hide who she was (yet). He became hired muscle to keep food on the table, and every other day he would play poker at various places and use his powers to get them rent money. Adrienne openly became a mutant at work, hoping it would help him in his search, but all it did was give him more difficult… Clients. He had to work side by side with some disgusting people, and sometimes had to kill worse. He didn't want to kill, but those targets helped pay for the roof over their heads, the food in the fridge, he wired money to his uncle’s girlfriend to help support her daughter just in case she needed it, and kept those who wanted Adrienne's new persona dead away._

_Plus, if he so desired, he got to keep some of their abilities. He took heightened reflexes, super strength, among a few others he wasn't sure of._

_They were living semi-peacefully for almost two years when Xavier found Bennie. She had only started her junior year of high school._

_And here they were._  
  
-

A knock on the professor’s door snapped them out of the telepathic trance at the perfect time, Adrienne took his male form, wiping off the rest of his tears. He let in a deep breath, then nodded as Xavier pointed at the door.

He got up and answered it for him, smiling sadly at Storm.

“You were not in the danger room session today,” She pointed sadly. “We thought perhaps you were running late again, but…”

“I was… Doing some important things.” He frowned. Storm looked up at him knowingly, offering him a soft embrace, which he took gladly. “I'm sorry.”

“It is alright. Though, I was told to give you a message once I found you.” She pulled away from Adrienne, giving him a grin. “You have been challenged to a duel of your choice tomorrow. I will give you details. Perhaps it'll keep your mind off of things.”

“But tomorrow Bennie's got -”

“It was her idea, actually.”

“Well… Right on. Who's challenging me?”


	7. Hit Me Like a Man

The wind was whipping at their faces. The ocean was unkind, the storm raged. Cracks of thunder hit their ears and lightning split the sky. The ship was in bad shape, but it miraculously stayed afloat. It bobbed up and down, trying to match the angry waves.

Now, it's pretty socially accepted that if you have a problem with someone, it can probably be solved by a nice, fair boxing match. But why would they be boxing when the danger room exists? 

Nightcrawler had challenged Adrienne to a fight of his choice, expecting a good, old-fashioned game of chess or something just to clear the air. He seemed to be staying for a while, and Kurt really didn't like the idea of disliking someone on the team. Little did he know, Adrienne had asked around and found out about the swashbuckling side of him - and God, that seemed like the best way to blow off steam. 

Adrienne stood with his sword pointed at his opponent, his eyebrows furrowed and his mismatched eyes piercing. Kurt stood opposite of him, fangs bared like a beast. His tail cracked expertly at Addie's arm, and he yelped in surprise. Now a bit caught off guard, Nightcrawler leapt at him. Adrienne came to just in time, blocking his rival's blade with his own with a pleasing _ching._

"You'll never defeat me," There was a smirk on Kurt's face. "I'm much lighter on my feet, and you still have no idea how to use your tail."

"Your arrogance is going to cost you," Adrienne parried to the left and threw in a rather acrobatic cartwheel just for kicks, still somehow holding his weapon. "You may not have noticed, but we've bonded. Every instinct you have is mine, if I focus."

The rain became too harsh, sticking at their clothes uncomfortably. Kurt stabbed his sword onto the ground and ripped off his shirt in one smooth motion. He threw it onto the deck of the ship, kicking it away and not once letting Adrienne out of his sight. After admiring how toned the other's torso was, Adrienne followed his lead, literally tearing off his own shirt after ripping it a bit with the tip of his sword. He puffed out his chest, challenging him. The other might be toned to look like the perfect human specimen, but Adrienne looked like he could throw him across the ship. Kurt gave a small snort at the sight of Adrienne's pierced nipples, then leapt at him again.

They were definitely an even match - where Adrienne lacked in acrobatics in comparison to Kurt, he made up for it in strength. He was focused completely on his bond with the elf, channeling as much of his circus knowledge that he could scrounge up. He was still built differently so it was a bit difficult, but the one part of his power he didn't need help channeling was how to make use of the bonds he shared.

Kurt wasn't going to admit it yet, but he was having a blast. He couldn't have chosen a better opponent, someone with genuine skill with a sword and no problem role playing that they were actually out at sea. It had started with them talking out their problems like adults - but who would bother with that in a place like this?

Adrienne let out a loud laugh as he leapt at Kurt and got forced back - there were smiles plastered on both of their faces now.

“I know we've had our differences, but I'm willing to make a truce.”

“Giving up?” Kurt asked, issuing another stab to have it met by the other sword.

“Oh hell no, I could go all night,” Adrienne raised an eyebrow and gritted his teeth as his opponent forced more strength behind his next blow. “I'm just trying to help you out before it’s too late.”

“In that case, thank you for your kindness but I do not want your pity,” Nightcrawler gave him another devilish grin. “I just want to see you lose. And I will.”

“Fat chance!” Our brave hero leapt at Kurt again, this time allowing his arm to turn to that lovely organic metal that he shared with Colossus, overpowering him and knocking him to the ground. “You will accept my pity, or I will destroy you.” He kicked Kurt’s sword away and bent down low to get a good look at him. 

Kurt’s glowing, yellow eyes were wide in shock, then his face melted in annoyance. But, of course, that only lasted a moment. “You may have the strength, but try as you might, you will never have the wit.” He was able to wrap his tail around the base of his weapon while Adrienne wasn't paying attention. Then, he hit his oppressor upside the head with the blunt end he was holding onto. A big “oof!” met his ears as he hit the deck next to his fellow x-man. 

Adrienne was laughing, allowing himself to lie down on the soaked wood of the ship. “This is the coolest room in the motherfucking world, imagine practicing for a role for a play or something, getting real-world experience right in the mansion. Wait, does this school have plays? That was my favorite part of school.” He had to yell to have his voice carry.

“Not usually, no. Though I've pushed for it a few times. Perhaps we both could convince the others of the idea?”

_Finally._

Adrienne sat up to give Nightcrawler a big grin, happy to hear that he was including him in something. “I'm sorry if I offended you before. I know you don't like me much.” He dragged himself closer - it might've been a little difficult to hear each other, but at least they didn't have to yell now.

“It's already been forgiven, my friend. My apologies for not trying harder to get to know you. It has been a while since someone has had that reaction to me, that is all it was.”

“Wait, you thought my shock was from what you looked like?” Adrienne facepalmed when Kurt's sad expression told him yes. “Buddy, it was from growing that tail. It hurts to grow bones, especially ones in your spine. I think you look great. I just wasn't expecting to ever grow one of these.” His tail wagged lazily to accompany his words.

“It hurts to change what you look like?” He looked puzzled, and from their bond, Addie could feel that he knew another shape shifter or two, and they didn't seem to feel a thing.

“Maybe my mutation is different because I absorbed it, but yeah. It's… Some of the worst pain imaginable. Next to catching on fire and getting shot, that sucks, too.”

“It's a miracle that you don't have more scars.” Adrienne gave him an obvious fake smile. He'd get into that later. Kurt leaned forward, squinting slightly as he studied the tattoo on Adrienne’s arm. “What is that supposed to say?”

He looked down, noticing allowing Piotr’s power to manipulate his arm messed up his art. He took the chance to allow his entire sleeve from his original body to bleed out onto his skin - something he'd never done before. It was original, surely whoever was looking for him would know the tattoo. It was a bunch of splashes of color, the artwork starting at his shoulder and running down to his hand. Its colors and art style resembled Starry Night, that Van Gogh painting he was obsessed with as a teenager. And on his wrist was a name in gorgeous calligraphy. “Darren was my big brother's name.”

Adrienne let out a long sigh to signify that he was prepared to go into depth. His new friend's tail coiled around himself as he sat more comfortably, now very curious.

“Starry Night was my favorite painting since I can remember. My mother had a print on the living room’s wall in our first house, and when we moved, she let me have it in my room. I always thought Van Gogh’s work gave off a tragically beautiful feel. That painting made me sad, but it was home. I got this tattoo when I turned seventeen… same time I got the nipple piercings. I went back to the tattoo place to get a touch up, and they did the ones on my face, too. The artist had the hots for me.”

He stopped for a moment, wondering if he should continue. Kurt still looked into it, and the professor already knew. What did he have to lose? “I incorporated his name after he shot himself. You see, it wasn't the first time he killed himself. My brother was my best friend, but he was so afraid of living forever… He had this ability to heal from anything… And he lived through the bullet through his skull. But he didn't remember anything afterward. He never spoke again, either. It was like I lost him. So I treated it as such.”

“It must be terrifying, not being able to die.” He seemed to know something, but Adrienne was exhausted emotionally and was tired of sharing. He didn't want to continue this conversation anymore than he had to. “Never being able to be at rest…”

Adrienne traced the tattoo, letting his skin transform back to the way it was - just keeping his brother's name and nothing else.

“What does it feel like when your skin does that?”

“Like when you rub sunburn on something. Do you ever get…?” Kurt nodded. “Do you think you - we'll get sick from this?” He motioned to the rain that was still falling on them. 

“Nein, at least I haven't had that problem yet.” He paused, then gave Adrienne another grin. “One more round before we head to bed?”

Adrienne cracked his tail like a whip and retrieved his sword with it, getting up with a jump. He was glad for the distraction, smirking at his opponent. “Let's admit it, I won the first round, you won the second.”

“Best two out of three!” Kurt agreed, pointing his own sword at the other. “Engard!”

“Ye will know the taste of my blade!”

They slashed at each other, having the most fun that someone could probably have on a rickety ship in the middle of what could have been a hurricane for all they could tell. They shouted little “you'll never take me alive!” and “you'll never defeat me”s until they were just roaring things like “you'll walk the plank!” “I will devour your parrot!” and loud, stereotypical “arrr!”s at each other. 

That is, until Kurt threw in a “No wretches that call themselves men like yerself have ever defeated me!”

Adrienne took the opportunity and let himself shift into the body he was born with. Thankfully, he learned to wear a belt after all those times he had to change his identity in his past. So though his-her-their shirt was off and their triple D’s heaved almost cartoon-like and perky on their chest, their pants stayed clinging to them for dear life. 

“Ye be mistaken, ye scurvy cur.” They smirked at his shock, easily disarming him. “I ain't never called myself a man.”

“Adrienne, that's - that's not fair, put… Put those away,” Even though he was covered in fur, Kurt was blushing almost hard enough for Adrienne to hear it. “Go back to what you were. Or at least put on a shirt, my god…”

“You asked for it,” They laughed, throwing their sword down and raising their arms in the air. “I win. Or maybe you do.”

“I want a rematch, and… wait, really?” Kurt stood and motioned at Addie's body, actually past the awkward “those are huge” stage and more towards the “that's what you've been hiding?” one.

“Yeah… I was born with the name Lily. But I'm not Lily anymore.” They walked toward Kurt's discarded shirt, pulling it over their head. “I guess it's time to stop running from her though, now's probably a good of a time as any.”

“We all knew you were hiding something, but… Your true gender wasn't really what I was thinking it was, to be truthful.”

“I don't think I have a ‘true gender,’ Kurt,” Adrienne sighed. “I'm just… Adrienne. I think.”

“Do you want me to keep… This… A secret for now?”

“Yeah, please. Baby steps.” They walked back to their new friend and took his wrist. “Now let's get out of here? I need hot cocoa and a blanket.”

“Good idea.”

Kurt told the danger room to shut down whatever training number it was - Adrienne was too busy shivering to pay attention, more from how uncomfortable their actual body felt in front of someone new than from the rain. They followed behind their new friend obediently, still holding his wrist, and he let them go in the kitchen. He told them to start the cocoa, he was going to get the blankets and put on a shirt since Addie was wearing his now. 

Adrienne did as they were told, rummaging through some shelves until they found what they were looking for. They whipped up what they could, bringing the two hot mugs out to the dining room that was connected to the kitchen. Sitting down, Adrienne blew pleasantly on the mug in front of them and looked up at a half-asleep teenager with crazy hair that stepped into the room.

Adrienne had been good friends with Dylan, but the look on their face reminded them that Addie looked foreign. They didn't belong here in this body. 

“Sup? Wait. Who… What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing up, D? It's way past curfew,” Adrienne cooed back, and they looked stumped enough. “Go to bed, kiddo. You've got school in the morning. I don't want to report you.”

“Just… For a run, is… Is all, yo…” They walked away, and for a moment, Adrienne thought about erasing Dylan's memory. That was tricky, but it was one of those telepathic things they'd learned pretty well.

Before they could make that mistake, Kurt showed back up with some blankets, wearing a rather strange yellow sweater. He draped a blanket over Adrienne, then over himself as he sat down next to them. “Anything else you're hiding?”

“If I'm being honest, yeah.” Adrienne paused, not sure if they should tell him. But they felt so comfortable with Kurt, it slipped out. There was something extremely charismatic about him. “When I'm in a different body, something about the anatomy in my brain stops telepaths from being able to contact me. There was someone looking for me when I was a teenager. I don't want to take the chance of finding out they're still looking for me.”

Kurt waited for them to continue. 

“They killed my family. I don't want them to come after my baby sister.”

“This is a safe place.” Adrienne nodded, they finally felt comfortable here. They'd never felt like that before. “Even if it wasn't, you're one of us. We will protect you.”

“That means the world to me.” Adrienne gave Kurt a smile. “I won't let them find me, though. I don't want to put anyone here in danger.”

“Trust me, we are used to it.” His strange hands held the cocoa firmly and his tail swished pleasantly. “The X men have done their fair share of rescuing everyone at least once.”

Adrienne grinned over at Kurt, shaking their head. “If I didn't know better, I'd think this place was a trap. Everyone's too perfect. Everyone's really sweet.”

“Not everyone,” He chuckled to himself, going for another sip. Adrienne assumed he meant Scott, he didn't seem to be the nicest person in the world. 

Letting out a yawn, Adrienne stretched their arms and got up to take care of their empty mug. Upon seeing that their new friend was done as well, they took his to the kitchen and cleaned them both. Still with his blanket around their shoulders, Adrienne padded into the room and stretched their arms to look like a bat. “I think it's time for this creature of the night to call it a day.”

“I was thinking the same.”

“So, I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe. Goodnight, man,” Adrienne turned to walk toward the living room area instead of the dorms, and Kurt cocked his head. 

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, yeah… Promised Pete I'd let him have some privacy. He, ah, had company today. Said I'd sleep on a couch.” They shrugged, then turned to go toward the living room again. 

“I see.” Kurt made a face, then stood up and followed after them. “There is a spare bed in my room if you're interested.”

Adrienne stopped, then turned to give him a look, their eyebrow raised. “They went through a bunch of moving people around, and you have an open bed?”

“It's… Not always vacant. But he's not here now, you should be able to sleep there.” He shrugged. “If you want, of course. The couches aren't that -”

“Yeah, they are, and you know it,” Adrienne chuckled, then turned to follow Kurt. “Lead the way, bro.”

The pair made it to Kurt’s room, which did indeed, have a spare bed. Addie plopped onto it, morphing into his body that he was more accustomed to. When he was done with the morph, he laid his head down, grunting a bit. “What the hell is…” He slipped a hand under the pillow, pulling out an almost-empty bottle of whiskey.

“As I said, I'm not always the only one in the room.”

“Well, I mean, you've got good taste.” He stared at the bottle for a moment, wondering if he should take a swig… Just to make sure that was a true statement, of course. “I'm tempted to drink this.”

“I don't think that would be wise.”

It was definitely true, and he sucked down the rest of the bottle. Whoops!

Kurt stared at him, mouth agape. “That wasn't… Mine, Adrienne.”

“Welp, I owe your roomie a new bottle, then.” It was in that moment he wished his healing factor wasn't so damn quick. He felt drunk for maybe a good thirty seconds. Enough to lay his head back down and close his eyes.

That didn't last long, either - after maybe a minute, something was toying with his tail.

Adrienne shot up, shouting, scrambling up to the headboard and breathing hysterically. He had to be hallucinating. He was going crazy. Was that whiskey spiked with something else? Why was there a cherub-looking mini-Kurt staring up at him like that?

“What kind of crazy-ass moonshine bullshit - ”

“Get out of here. No, go -(whatever that was, it was German)! Let him sleep,” Kurt commanded, flailing a hand at the little figure. After a bit of struggle, the tiny blue demon disappeared in a cloud of smoke. His head went back to just barely poking out from under the covers, and all Adrienne could really see was the yellow of his eyes. “I'm sorry, it's a lot to explain. Just try to get some sleep. I'll tell you later.”

“I've learned my lesson, alright. Don't drink what ain't yours.” Adrienne pulled one of the pillows over his head and groaned. “And Kurt has a baby. I've heard you're the religious type, and you're yelling at your own bastard baby. Unless you are married and you're hiding it from us. What's the secret?” He looked over at his new friend expectantly.

“It's not a baby,” Half-asleep Kurt grumbled. “It's a demon-maggot-creature that shares some of my genetics thanks to my father. It's more like a sibling than my child. Now go to bed.”

“I can't believe Kurt Wagner just called his own child a demon maggot.”

Adrienne received a pillow to the face.


	8. We Belong Down Below

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to my good ol' pal D - I hope I'm doing your oc justice! c:

There are some really pleasant ways to wake up. Perhaps birds out in the trees singing in the morning, helping you drift back from a restful slumber. The sun peeking into your window as it rises, the smell of coffee brewing, the sound of the radio playing your favorite song as your alarm goes off.

Adrienne didn't get to wake up with such luxury. Adrienne woke up to the sound of metal scraping on metal and being pulled down onto the floor.

“Is there an emergency, Ben?” He asked, not quite awake.

“You better believe it, bub,” An unfamiliar, hoarse voice growled. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

Adrienne rubbed at his eyes, allowing them to focus. This person in front of him had three metal claws protruding from his wrists, pointing directly at his throat. He looked a lot like -

“Holy shit, it's you,” Adrienne gasped, scrambling to cover himself with the blanket that fell with him. Once he realized he looked stupid, he dropped the blanket and reached out to touch the angry man’s dangerous-looking hand. He did so for only a moment, just enough to make the tiniest bond before he shoved him away and drove his claws closer to Addie's neck.“You're the one I've been - ”

“You're the one that drank the last of my booze, asswipe. Now tell me what you were doing in this bed. It's _mine.”_

“Kurt invited me,” Adrienne explained desperately, and an odd expression fell over the other’s features. His hand (and most importantly _those damn claws_ ) lowered a bit and his eyebrows furrowed. As if that had summoned him, Kurt walked into the room and closed the door behind him. “Dude, please tell this guy you invited me over last night.”

“Logan, mein gott, put those away. He's a friend.” He crossed his arms and approached him without hesitation. The mutant he called Logan did as he said, then motioned to Adrienne on the ground and raised an eyebrow. “I did invite him to sleep in your bed. You said you'd be gone longer.”

“It's still mine, elf. Whether I'm in it or not.”

“There's no need to be so selfish. He had nowhere else to sleep.”

“He can sleep on the damn floor, look. He loves it.”

Adrienne was just still staring up at the pair, half asleep, almost registering their bickering as a lover’s quarrel. He had nothing to say so he just sat there, dumbfounded. 

“They're letting anyone into the X Men now, aren't they.”

“It's always been that way. You're one of us, are you not?” Kurt jabbed back, then turned to rummage through the things on his dresser. “I've missed you, lie- Logan. Adrienne, could you please go back to your own room? We have to speak in private.”

“Y-yeah, good idea. See you later, captain.” Adrienne saluted the pair, still very much delirious, then teleported back to his own room.

“You didn't, ah…” Logan pointed at his bed with his thumb

“Heavens, no.” Kurt gave up on his search for whatever he was looking for to approach his roommate. “You weren't gone _that_ long.”

-

After getting a tiny little catnap in, Adrienne was ready for the morning to truly begin. Which ended up being lunch for the rest of them. He arrived into Dr. McCoy’s classroom grossly late, giving him a sad smile. They were the only two in the room. 

“Rough morning?”

“I met Logan.” Beast’s look of knowing almost made Adrienne chuckle. He cleaned up after a messy student, then excused himself out of the room. It wasn't like he could help now that class was over.

He met up with his sister’s and his friends, and they all chowed down on their various foodstuffs pleasantly. No one brought up the bloody incident from the other day, much to Adrienne's delight.

Bennie had already explained most of what happened, not that she'd tell him that. She might have accidentally slipped in a bunch of their past, too. He didn't need to know.

“So I met this dude today. The one from the vision,” Adrienne meant to just say it to Bennie, but he was talking rather loudly. “He's short and he has claws. And smells weird.”

“Logan’s back?” Kitty asked, and after Addie nodded, she ran off excitedly. 

“People actually like this guy,” He shook his head, amazed, then went back to his lunch. “Oh, and hey. Thanks for talking Kurt into that match last night.”

“You're welcome,” Bennie grinned. “From what I heard, he didn't dislike you. It sounded like a misunderstanding. Plus, I told you about all of those pirate windows I saw. I figured it was time.”

“You're brilliant and I love you.”

The bell rang again, and the students shuffled to get to their next classes. Bennie said goodbye and raced off with her friends, leaving her brother behind. Adrienne stayed in his spot, staring into his empty plate. He sat there dissociating for much longer than he expected, and almost literally jumped when his new friend took a seat next to him.

“You are troubled,” Kurt noted softly. “You had a nightmare last night, yeah? I heard you struggling in your sleep.”

“Yeah.” He sat, silent, still staring at his plate. “But I have that one a lot. It shouldn't be a big deal anymore. Man, do those dreams knock me out.”

“What did you dream about?”

Adrienne wasn't prepared to talk about it. He just looked up at Kurt sadly, offering him a tiny, shaky smile. “I really don't want to talk about it, man. I'm sorry.” That's where he drew the line. He was coming more to terms with his past, especially with the professor’s help, but his future… That was different. 

Kurt nodded, though Adrienne could feel that he truly wanted to know. 

“Thank you, by the way. For everything.” Kurt’s eyes were questioning. “I'm glad we're friends now. From what I heard, you were amazing. And everyone was right. Especially this morning with Logan, guy would’ve killed me. Should I go get him a new bottle?”

“He wouldn't kill you. He's really not a bad man. Though, if you ever want to see his good side, I'd recommend a trip to the liquor store.”

“I haven't been outside of the property since Ben and I got here,” Adrienne looked out a window, squinting slightly. “I almost forgot that there's a world outside.”

He wanted to forget that there was a world outside. 

Adrienne looked at his watch, sighing softly. It was about time to meet up with the professor.

“Do you have to go now?” Kurt asked, cocking his head slightly. Adrienne gave him a friendly goodbye, promising him that he'd go to a store after his telepathy session.

-

Adrienne had discussed his issue with the professor after he'd given him another course on how to do that thing where he stopped literally everyone, like back at the museum. He had told Adrienne about Logan's love for whiskey, as well as his love for cigars. 

Cigars made him think of cigarettes. 

Which he was running severely low on. 

Yeah, he definitely needed to remedy that.

Xavier told Adrienne where to get keys to a different car simply because that station wagon needed to be put out of its misery - and he headed to the garage. Twirling the keys around pleasantly, he stopped to hit the lock on the key fab to locate a plain-looking, black SUV and hopped in.

“Where you going, yo?”

“Jesus!” Adrienne dropped the keys onto the floor of the car. “D, you sneak up on me like that one more time and you're going to end up with an accidental skull fracture.” Damn fast kids and their damn dramatic entrances. They were already buckled in. 

“Well, Bennie told me you were going somewhere for the first time since you got here and she kind of gave you the cold shoulder. So I thought I'd give you some company. But where are you going?”

“Just to a store to get some booze, calm down, kid. You're making the poor car vibrate. I can't catch the keys.”

“I haven't been out of the mansion since our field trip, dude. That's all. I'm coming with you, right? Even though you're going to buy alcohol to bring to a _school._ I won't tell. _If_ you get me a few energy drinks, maybe. I'm running low. Mom hasn't sent me any in a while.” Dylan stopped to let their thoughts catch back up to them, then screwed up their face a little. “I mean that's kind of because of what happened last time she saw me. But in my defense, going that fast was wicked awesome. I wish I could always be that fast.”

“If you start fucking with the laws of time, I'm never bringing you on another beer run ever again.” Dylan grinned up at Adrienne as he started up the car, finally. “And the professor knows, actually. He agreed I should probably do this.”

Dylan blinked, cocking their head a bit.

“This morning, I met Logan. And I made him mad. I'm getting him a peace offering.”

“Ol’ Wolvie gets mad at everything. You don't need to bribe him with alcohol, that'll probably make him mad, too.” D sat back and snorted at their own comment. “He gets mad if you look at him for too long. I've just decided to pretend it's an act, it's working out for me pretty well.”

“What does he even do around the mansion?”

“He goes on all of the missions he can, he helps train in the danger room all the time, makes the place smell like smoke, and complains about stuff and his past.” Dylan paused, their features melting from the normal, doofy smile to a very serious look - one Adrienne had never seen on them. “He likes to run off when he's upset. He's never been gone this long, but he wasn't the only one that left after Jean died.”

Adrienne stopped as he was about to pull out of the driveway. “I've been picking up really negative energy from everyone. I figured someone had to have passed. Who was she?”

“She was a really powerful telepath, and she could move stuff with her mind, too. She was dating Cyclops for literally forever, it seems like. Everyone figured they'd get married. Except Wolverine, he wanted her, too. It was like a cheesy sitcom here for a while.” Dylan smiled sadly, turning to look out the window at the passing scenery. “Everyone's starting to move on, though. I think she would've wanted us to.”

“No wonder,” Adrienne sighed, turning into the parking lot of the closest liquor store. “Scott feels so sad. I thought he was just a dick, but…”

“No, he's always been a dick. But - hey, what are you doing?”

Adrienne had shifted to look like Colossus, which was the easiest body he could think of. His bone structure was similar, though it still hurt like hell to put the tail away. Adrienne let out a little whine, then rubbed at his forehead a bit. “I'm making myself look different in case anyone gets weirded out by my tail. Or, you know, recognizes me.”

“You know, Bennie told me you could transform. And I mean, in the danger room you do that poof thing, and then the eye thing… Can you run like I do, too?” Dylan cocked their head a bit, then frowned when Adrienne said no. 

“But… Come here, I can change that,” He reached out and took Dylan's hand for a moment, allowing himself to bond with Bennie’s friend. He took in a vision of a small apartment with cheap Christmas decorations and a nice-looking older woman with long, black hair and a big smile. Adrienne let go of Dylan, then let out a long breath. “Your mom looks really sweet. Are you from around here? I was getting New York vibes.” They each got out of the car, accidentally slamming both doors.

“Yeah, I'm from Brooklyn, actually. I try to see her every month, but she's really busy with work. Even when I lived there, I never got to see her. But I do write to her a lot!” They opened the door as Adrienne approached it, following behind him as he entered. “I never had a dad, so she had to support me all by herself. She went in debt after she went to school when I was really little. I was thinking of moving back after I graduate, but it sounds like they're actually making me a member of the team. Even… You know, even though I'm not that fast.”

“Hey. You hold your own in the danger room pretty well. It's not always about speed, sometimes it's about what you've got going on in your head. You're a team player.” He stopped in an aisle lined with exactly what he was looking for, and scratched at his chin a bit.

“I've never tried any of this stuff,” Dylan pointed to the biggest bottle of Jack Daniels. “But I want to try it. Everyone says that’s the best.”

Adrienne snorted. “Silly kid. That's for people that hate themselves.” He plucked it off of the shelf. He scanned the rest of the bottles until he found whatever it was that he finished off last night. Adrienne grabbed the bigger bottle, examining it closely. It was expensive, but now that he didn't have to pay people to keep quiet, he had some extra padding in his wallet.

They brought the bottles to the front of the store, and Adrienne asked the older woman for a few cases of cigarettes. Dylan placed a few brightly colored cans on the counter, giving her a big smile. She gave the pair a strange look, then asked for the both of them to show their identification. 

Dylan looked up at Adrienne, slightly terrified. They were only seventeen, definitely not old enough. But Addie flashed them a blank index card that he kept in his wallet, which the older woman took, examined, then handed back to him. 

I'm a telepath, Dylan. She won't know the difference. 

They grinned, handing their license to the woman, who examined it and gave it back. Adrienne paid her, thanked her, then motioned for the teenager to follow him. They did so, chirping something about getting shitfaced for the first time. 

“No one’s getting drunk,” Adrienne sighed, slumping back into the car. He handed D their bag of overpriced sugar water and they clung to it.

“What, is that supposed to last you a fuckin’ year?”

“I heal so fast, I don't stay drunk for long.”

“Oh, so you're just like Wolvie,” Dylan made a face and nodded. Adrienne lifted an eyebrow as he took the turn back into the school’s private drive. “Damn dude, is there anything you can't do?”

He smiled sadly, transforming back into his normal form. “I can't give good first impressions, apparently. Nor can I walk around normally in public.”

“If you don't want to do the morph thing, you could ask Dr. McCoy for an image inducer,” Dylan instantly hopped out of the car as it stopped, bouncing on their feet. “They work really well.”

_Especially on him._

Adrienne snorted, shaking his head. One of the perks of being a telepath was learning everyone's secrets. “Hot for teacher, huh?”

“What? No! What makes you think that?” They played with their hair, trying to hide their blush underneath it.

Adrienne grabbed his bags, carrying one in each hand and the one with cigarettes hanging from his tail. “Let me guess, your favorite color is blue.”

“It's almost like you can read minds or something.” They slumped a bit, giving up. “Don't tell anybody, okay?”

“My lips are sealed,” He said, opening the door for his friend. “I've got to bring this stuff to my room, I'll see you later, kid.” With a final goodbye, he teleported to his room and sat his bags down. Adrienne took the big bottle of whiskey out of its brown bag, about to open it when - 

“Whiskey!” A tiny voice screeched, and a little blue creature leapt at the bottle in Adrienne's hands. He didn't get a very good look at it, but he knew it was one of those little cherub-looking mini Kurts. He snatched the bottle away with impressive strength, then vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Adrienne heard scuttling behind the wall, and instantly went to follow it. He raced after the sound, exiting the room and following it down the hall.

“Gotcha,” Adrienne growled, closing his hand into a fist, ready to punch through the wall.

“What are you doing?” Bennie approached Addie from behind, holding a thick book close to her chest.

“What? Oh, this tiny little Nightcrawler minion thing stole my whiskey and…” He put his ear to the wall. “Holy shit, there's like… a few of ‘em in there.”

“If you punch through it, you'll hurt one of them.”

Adrienne turned a bit to look sadly at his sister. “Guess I got it for nothing, huh? You could've warned me.”

“I mean, they might give it back, but I don't know. You always can punch the wall, I just know you'll feel bad.” She shrugged, then turned to walk away.

Giving up on his bottle of Jack, Addie power walked to catch up with Bennie. “Yeah, I would feel bad. Especially since yesterday happened, I don't want to piss my new friend off. It took long enough for him to even talk to me.”

“He wouldn't be too mad, not that I saw. But they left you the other bottle, you should go give it to that short guy. Wolverine.”

“He's the perfect height.” Adrienne offered Bennie a goofy smile. “Someone I can really see eye to eye.”

“Maybe. If you ever show people what you actually look like.”

He stopped, putting a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Ben, are you alright? You're acting really weird all of a sudden.”

“I'm fine.” She shrugged his hand off and continued walking back down the hall. Adrienne raced to catch up with her again. 

“You've never been like this. I really need you to tell me what's going on.” He held out his middle finger, as if they were going to pinky swear. “I'll use my third trust pass.”

“I can't believe you remember that,” Bennie smiled sadly, shaking his middle finger with hers. 

“I do remember it, and I remember that you've only got one left.” He raised his pinky, wiggling it a bit. “Use it wisely.”

“Fine, alright. Come inside.”

Adrienne followed behind his little sister obediently, closing the door behind them with his tail.

“I'm jealous, alright.”

He raised his eyebrow questioningly. 

“I'm jealous that they came for me and you're the one that gets the uniform first. They're making you and Dylan the next X-men. Not me. I saw it in class today.” She sat down on her bed, staring down at her feet. “Probably tonight. I think, at least. I was too mad to pay any attention.”

“Well, we have done a lot of work in the danger room. Maybe they plan on having you practice in there when you get a little older.”

“Dylan is only a year and a half older than me, if they can go in the danger room, so can I.”

“Ben,” Adrienne cooed, sitting down next to her. He put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. “They're keeping you safe. Your power is a lot more passive, alright? You could be in actual danger in a fight. You've got to learn how to control it more before you're in the line of fire, that's all.”

“Do you think they'll ever recruit me?”

“You're at the school, aren't you?” She nodded. “Chuck and Scott came for you, remember? You're the important one. I'm just here to keep you safe. And if getting a stupid costume and a codename is a part of that… I mean, come on. Who's the lucky one here? What if I have to wear like, neon spandex?”

Bennie smiled. “Maybe you have a point.” She looked up at him, wiping what was almost a tear with a sleeve. “I guess I just wish I was as cool as you to them. Everyone else thinks you're super awesome and powerful.”

“And you know that I'm a stupid fucking potato.”

“Exactly. But, like, a potato that pretends it's a fruit.” She shook her head, kind of regretting her lame comparison. “You'll have to tell them all eventually. In almost every window I've seen, you end up looking more like Lily.”

“But does my Lily body look as good in neon spandex?”

She giggled, returning Adrienne's hug finally and squeezing him tight. “You're right. I need to stop being such a buttface. Maybe I'll get to wear a cool costume one day when I'm old like you.”

“We could call you Deja Vu or something awesome like that.” Her face lit up, and she nodded excitedly. “I'll get something stupid stuck to me, like Mr. Absorbo or Spongedude.”

“And it'll be even more stupid when you have those big boobs.”

“They'll just have to change my name to SpongeBoobs.”

Now that Bennie was giggling like that, Adrienne was quite pleased with himself and stood up. “If you need anything, look for me, alright? I'm going to bring that gift to Logan. And then probably smoke until my lungs turn black for a while.”

“Good luck.”

He nodded at his sister, walking out of her room and into his again. Once he had Logan's bottle back in his hands, he paused. How was he supposed to find him? He thought about checking his room first, but if he was napping, maybe it wouldn't be the best idea to wake him up. With a sigh, Adrienne put the bottle back into its totally-not-suspicious brown bag, and padded out into the hallway anyway.

Once he got to Kurt and Logan’s room, he hesitated before finally knocking. What was he so afraid of?

Maybe it was that future he and Bennie kept seeing. In one, they hated each other and reluctantly went on a suicide mission together where Adrienne never returns. In another, they're attached at the hip and they come home unscathed and share a bottle of beer. There's one where they never get along and don't even go. Or there's another where they don't go, but they're still really good friends. In another, they get along well, but he ultimately -

“Adrienne, are you alright?” He snapped back into reality when he realized Kurt had opened the door and was waving his hand in front of his face. “Your eyes glazed over. Are you feeling well?”

“Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Sometimes I can't control it. I'm not as good at it as my little sister is.” He sighed, lifting the brown bag a little. “Any ideas on where your roommate is?”

“He was talking with the professor. It has been a while, I'm sure he won't be much longer.” Kurt frowned and motioned for Adrienne to come inside. After he sat on his new friend’s bed, Kurt leaned against the dresser and offered him a smile. “He is a good man. I've actually talked to him about this all. He just wasn't expecting you to be there when he returned. Things have been difficult for him.”

“Dylan told me about Jean.”

Kurt’s features grew dark. “Her passing has been very difficult for us all, none more so than Scott and Logan. They both loved her more than anything. I am honestly surprised at how well Scott has been doing. He's been been keeping himself busy - though he still mourns, he is helping us all.”

“He's a good leader. Even if he's off-putting.” Addie sighed. “You know, not one person really brought Logan up until he got back. Where does he go?”

“Away.”

Sounded like that was all he was going to get without digging. He could feel that Kurt wasn't happy with his friend’s apparent tendency to disappear. 

The door opened, and the smell of cigar smoke filled the room. With a hint of… Old spice? Maybe some maple bacon? Adrienne shook off his apparent new ability to smell literally everything and smiled sadly up at Kurt’s friend as he entered the room.

“You again?”

“I wanted to apologize.”

Logan lifted a thick eyebrow at the new recruit, crossing his arms.

Adrienne took the bottle from out of the bag, standing up to hand it over. Logan took it, examined it, and shrugged his shoulders. “There was hardly any left in that damn bottle.” He nodded at Kurt, who moved out of his way so that he could pick up a simple shot glass. Logan filled it halfway, then held it out for Adrienne.

He took it thankfully, then downed what seemed to be an offering of peace quickly. Logan snorted at his lack of response to how strong it was.

“You're alright, kid. Just stay out of my bed.”

_I'm glad that's all you found._

Adrienne blinked, cursing himself for his momentary drunkenness - he didn't mean to slip up and hear that little bit. “You got it.” He let out a deep breath, relaxing, then cocked his head when both of the others screwed up their faces. Kurt placed a thick finger to his temple. 

“The professor wants to meet with you and Dylan in the danger room,” Kurt told Adrienne, who was even more confused for a moment. 

“Why don't he contact the kid himself?” Logan turned to his roommate. 

“Because he can't.” Adrienne got up to leave, waving at the pair and shutting the door behind him.


	9. You Got Spirit, Kid

“Yo, I can't believe this!” Dylan was zipping from one side of the room to the other, bouncing in their new, yellow-grey-and-black suit. Friction-proof, fireproof, disaster proof. Dylan-proof.

Adrienne was tugging at his own, very tight new garb, extremely conscious of how his nipple rings were obvious through it. As well as, you know, how it left nothing else to the imagination. He felt naked, almost. Even though the brightly-colored yellow, blue, black, and red fabric covered essentially his whole body.

“It's very flattering,” Storm giggled as she saw Adrienne's clothes, leaning on his shoulder and grinning up at him.

“I mean, it's fair. How often do super suits end up sexualizing men compared to how often they do women?”

“It wasn't designed to be sexy, it was designed to stay on when you transform.” Hank tugged at the fabric on his shoulder opposite of Storm, humming a bit in thought. He turned around to watch Dylan, who was really just happy to be there. “How does yours feel?”

“Like I was meant to wear it.” They flexed their scrawny arms. “Now all I need is a cool name. Like Crank.”

“I snorted that once when I was a teenager. Nasty stuff.”

“Okay, okay, gosh Adrienne. Maybe something like, Yellow Jacket.”

“Quite sure someone out there has claimed that name.” Hank said simply.

“Fuck, uh… blue streak?”

“Your suit is yellow,” Storm chipped in with a cute smile. 

“Quick Fire. Rapid… Something. God, you guys, give me something to work with.”

“Try something more simple, perhaps?” The professor was watching it all unfold, Scott standing next to him looking like he wanted to be somewhere else.

“How about Bullet?” Adrienne asked. He motioned to their suit. “I mean, it's grey. Mostly.”

“Great! I'll be Bullet. And you can be Guns.” Dylan zipped over to Adrienne, examining his muscles with the other two, which were pretty impressive and bulky with the suit. “Seriously, dude, how much do you bench?”

“About thirteen hundred pounds?”

“Jesus fuck!” Dylan stepped away, appalled. “But. I do like Bullet. That's the best one I've heard.”

“What are we going to call you?” Storm was still leaning on Adrienne, looking up at him curiously. 

“SpongeDude is what Bennie said to call him.” Dylan smirked at the glare his friend gave him. 

“What exactly… Are your powers, Adrienne?” Pleased with his work, Hank returned to stand near the professor and Scott before scratching at his chin.

“Strength, agility, the teleportation thing, the eye thing, healing, telepathy, I can see into the future, kinda… morphing… er, lots of things.”

“He is a hodgepodge of abilities, of which he soaks up by means of bonding through skin contact and then strengthening them by getting closer to them in both proximity and by getting closer emotionally.” The room looked to the professor as he spoke. “When he transforms, his mind becomes a patchwork of all of the memories and abilities he's picked up and it is completely impossible for a telepath, even one as experienced as myself, to even think of entering his mind.”

“A patchwork of powers.” Dylan groaned. “Dude, that's not fair. You can do like, everything.”

“Patchwork is actually… Really good.” Adrienne smiled over at the others, getting a nice boost of confidence. “Better than SpongeBoobs.”

“What?”

“Oh, uh, nothing.” Adrienne offered a tight smile down at Storm. He looked up at Scott and the professor, tonguing his labret piercing nervously. “This means we're really a part of the team, huh?”

“You have been since you decided to join us.” The professor smiled kindly.

“I'm glad you tagged along.”

Adrienne was shocked at the kind words from Scott, walking over to him and restraining himself from a hug. He put out a hand and placed it on his shoulder instead, nodding once. “I'm glad I did, too.” He received a tiny smile.

“Did you just pull us away to give us titles and stretchy spandex?” Dylan - Bullet - asked, bouncing a bit on their heels. 

“Not quite.” Hank smiled, motioning for them to follow him. They walked down a hallway, and soon Adrienne, or Patchwork, looked over at his new official teammate, Bullet. They exchanged a knowing nod. He was bringing them to the jet that was hidden underground, which Patchwork had only seen twice before. He was giving off some information about it, something about a cloaking device, something about how fast it was. “...and now that you're officially X Men, it's time you got used to the Blackbird. You will be going along with the team on their next mission.”

Patchwork could've choked up then and there - who knew this would have happened? Only months ago, he was literally killing people to keep other people quiet, for safety, to put food on the table. Now, he was being offered a chance to _save lives._ To make the world a better place. To make a difference. To redeem himself… But he did his best to stay stone-faced and quiet. He hadn't even noticed that Storm had joined them.

She and Hank entered the Blackbird first, letting Bullet and Patchwork follow behind, the both of them taking seats behind the others.

“It kicks ass in here,” Bullet grinned, buckling in. “Think I can fly it once?”

“Maybe someday,” Storm looked back at them, flashing a smile.

Patchwork was clutching onto the belt, shivering a bit. God, he always hated flying. But if it meant he'd get to his destination faster, flying was the only way. It's not like he could teleport very far. He couldn't even go from one side of the mansion to the other.

The ceiling above them opened up, and both Storm and Beast made the jet come to life with a soft whir. Patchwork shut his eyes tightly, Bullet was bouncing in their seat like an excited child.

And then, they began to bounce slower. 

Patchwork noticed the slow of the noises around him and opened an eye. Beast turned to speak to Storm, and his voice was slow and altered. The jet rose up into the air painfully slowly, as if everything was going only half the speed it should be going.

Patchwork looked over at Bullet, who turned their head at half speed and cocked it slowly. They let out a slow “Are you alright, dude?” and Patchwork rubbed at his forehead, trying to relax. After a few long breaths, Bullet asked again, this time with that fast-paced yip he was used to from his comrade.

“Yeah, I think I am.” He screwed up his face, then turned to look at his little friend. “How do you feel when you shift into overdrive?”

“What? Oh! I mean, it's pretty natural. It's just when I'm running.” They sat back, pleased that Patchwork didn't look like he was going to be sick anymore.

“How about when you're stressed? Or desperate?”

“I guess, that would be why I'm running.”

“What about when you're not running…?”

“What are you getting at, bro?” The two caught the interest of the pair flying the Blackbird, now listening intently as they steered. Bullet screwed up their face, leaning toward Patchwork again. “Did you see something?”

“No, but I'm feeling pretty desperate, and I just witnessed you speak slowly, and that ain't normal.” He gave his friend a far-off, curious look. “I've never done that before. I just slowed everything down.”

Hank turned to make it easier for them to hear him. “It could be possible that you aren't speeding up, Bullet. It could be that you're slowing everything else down.”

They stared straight on now, as if all had been revealed. As if every question had been answered. “That means… I might… Be able to do it when I'm not running…” They stared outside wistfully. “What if you're right…”

“That's something we'll have to work with in the future. When we're not so high up off of the ground.” Beast turned back to what he was doing, then motioned for the two to get up. “You can unbuckle now. Here, I'll show you what some of this is.”

-

As soon as the Blackbird touched down, Patchwork was out of there. He teleported back to his room, had a pack of cigarettes in his hand, and powerwalked to sit beneath a big tree in the mansion’s yard. He had a lit cigarette hanging from his lips as Wolverine approached, plopping down to sit next to him. 

“Got a light?” Patchwork picked up a rock from the ground, striking his nail against it. It sparked a tiny flame, and he lit the cigar between Logan’s fingers. He let out a grunt and a puff of smoke. “You're all sorts of convenient, ain't ya?”

“I'm anything I'm needed to be.” He leaned back against the tree, trying to relax again.

“And do you know what do you need you to be?”

Adrienne lifted an eyebrow. “You didn't strike me as the philosophical type.” The other shrugged. “I'm still figuring it out. I think being Patchwork is - ”

He was interrupted by a sudden cloud of a worse-smelling type of smoke and a half-drank bottle of whiskey falling at his feet. One of the little blue devils was smiling up at him, pushing it toward him. A truce. He tried to read its mind, but picked up absolutely nothing.

“Those bamfs love their alcohol.” So they had a name. Logan showed such little interest in the exchange that it was as if this happens to him, too.

Patchwork eyed Logan, then switched his attention back to the, uh, bamf on the ground. “Er… Thanks, little dude.” It made a borderline cute noise, then gave him a thumbs up before disappearing again. “What the fuck is with this place?”

“You'll get used to it. It ain't the weirdest thing you'll see.” He let out another grunt, eyeing the newcomer again. The name “Patchwork” definitely fit him, he looked like someone made a modern Picasso portrait of the X Men. “There's one that always tries to give shit back after the others take it. Usually it's too late. Did good this time.”

Addie flicked his cigarette butt upon finishing it and unscrewed the bottle, taking a quick swig. “Going off of earlier - I need me to be good to what family I have left.” It only took a few moments for that tingling sensation to start, and he sighed as it faded away. “I need me to atone for the bad things I've done and to find a way to live without fear of the truth.”

“The elf told me you're runnin’ from something. And you apparently don't know what.”

Great. That's what this was for.

“Someone out there doesn't like that I can do almost anything.” He looked down at his hands. “I tried to get rid of it. You know, since I can get rid of little bonds. Like, I could get rid of all the ones I've got from people here. But once someone I've taken powers from is dead, it's mine. There isn't a way for me to change that. And there's too much death in my past.”

“If he wasn't so fond of you, I would've tried to get rid of you by now.” The blood left Patchwork’s face. “You don't smell right, kid. Until we know what we're dealing with, I'm keeping an eye on you. I don't think I could trust you without knowing he seems to think you belong here.”

He blinked, sitting with his mouth agape for a moment. Good fucking thing he made nice. “He told you… That I'm in hiding, but didn't tell you how?” Wolverine raised a bushy eyebrow at Adrienne, his cigar between his lips again. “I'm a shifter, I'm not going to ‘smell right.’ I probably smell - ”

“You smell like a woman, and I've had issues with women that shapeshift before.” He interrupted, still puffing at his cigar as if it was more interesting than the conversation. “But you don't smell like her.”

“I was born female,” Adrienne admitted, sighing softly. “When I'm not in my original form, telepaths can't read my mind. So I spent a lot of time switching bodies up. This is just the one that makes me comfortable. I don't have to focus much on staying in this body anymore.”

“You can tell in your voice, too.”

There was silence for a few tense moments. 

“This place has some sort of psychic shield around it, so that if someone wanted to find me, they couldn't no matter what. I showed the professor who I was the first day I was here. I showed Kurt the other day, too. But for some reason, I'm still scared.”

“I'm not a fan of people pretending to be something they ain't.” He watched as Adrienne reached for another cigarette, lighting it with a fingernail again. “You don't need to morph or wear one of those fancy image changing watches or whatever people use. You're here, in a place where people are willin’ to protect you just because they care about you. They deserve to know who they're dealin’ with.”

Adrienne just stared at him until he found the words he was looking for. “My family was killed when I was eighteen. I was an eighteen year old girl hitchhiking in the south.” His words dripped with venom. Not particularly because of Wolverine, but because of the memories that came with them. “A busty, small, easily manipulated, abused, and scared girl that ended up in places she didn't want to be. A lot. I would never wish that, not on anyone. The things people have done to me… They were enough for me to try to kill myself. But it's hard for someone who can't die.”

Logan’s features were dark - he hadn't been expecting this. He definitely was asking for a fight; but he was planning on fighting someone with an agenda against the X Men, not against themselves.

“Sometimes, I feel like I was meant to be a man. And sometimes, I feel like I was meant to be a woman. I'm lucky, I've got the option between the both of them. So I'm going to tell the world what I am when I see fit. And today,” He stood up, flicking his cigarette butt away and picking up his oversized bottle of whiskey. “Today, I'm a man named Adrienne. With it spelled the ‘female’ way, because I'm not afraid of being feminine. I'm afraid of people finding me and murdering my family. And maybe it's because I've got PTSD, but if I say I'm a man, that's what I am. Maybe you don't like that I'm ‘faking who I am,’ but let me tell you. I know a lot more about what I'm supposed to be than you do, old man.”

With that, he walked off, cracking his tail angrily against a nearby tree. _Shit._ This would probably bring upon the future where they hate each other. And it was going so well…

“Adrienne!” Bennie raced over as her brother was about to enter the mansion, breathing heavily. She stopped, panting a little bit. “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

“I'm going back to my room, I have to calm down.”

“Did you chew Wolverine out?”

“Yeah.”

Bennie let out a happy sigh. “Good. That's good.” She laughed when she saw her brother’s face, confused at her. “If you didn't, he would've tried to like. ‘Out’ you to everyone. You just won his respect.”

“Now he's got to earn mine,” Adrienne smiled down at her, opening the door and letting his sister in.

“Then go back outside,” She smiled back, quickly taking the things out of his hands and closing the door behind her before her brother could go through it. “Love you! Be nice to him!” He could hear through the door, barely.

He groaned rather loudly, dragging his feet as he walked back. Patchwork wished Bennie hadn't taken his booze and walked back to Wolverine was sitting earlier, but he was gone. Adrienne looked around, peering over at the lake on the property and the trees surrounding it, wondering if he'd gone -

“I'm, uh, sorry.”

He turned around and looked down at his fellow X Man, giving him a tight smile.

“You've definitely got balls, kid. I didn't know who you were was part of the changin’ thing.” Wolverine motioned to Adrienne's body. “I thought you were hidin’ because you didn't trust us. Or were undercover. We've had issues with that before.”

“I know they're ready to know. I just don't think I'm ready to show them.” He sighed softly. “Some of them do. Some of them… I'm afraid they'll react badly. So I'm waiting for the right moment.”

“Take all the time you need.” He motioned for Adrienne to follow him. “Come on, it's getting dark out and I feel like I owe you a beer.”

After a few steps and a couple deep moments of thought, Adrienne did what they probably had to do and morphed back into their first body, rubbing at their tailbone when it was finished sinking back into their spine.

When she was finished, she looked over at Wolverine, who couldn't help but chuckle at the height difference between her bodies. “You're hiding _this_ from everyone? No wonder Kurt’s so fond of you.”

“It's part of why. I mean, I am a telepath after all, I heard what he thought,” Patchwork laughed as Wolverine opened the door for her, but she took the one next to it instead and opened it herself. “And I feel your jealousy. Don't worry. He's cute, but I've got no interest in feelings like that.”

“Excuse…?”

Patchwork just winked at him.

While they walked, they morphed back into their currently preferred body, wincing at the pain for a moment. He received a nice black eye for a few moments, and Wolverine was about to ask what that was all about before deciding he didn't care too much. He looked back up at Patchwork, and it was gone.

“If we're going to be on the same team, we might as well get along. And keeping each other's secrets is probably a good way to make it work.” Adrienne stopped, sighing again. “Thank you for apologizing. And I'm sorry I got so cold for a little bit, there. You just… really struck a nerve.”

“It's one of the things I do best, you'll figure that out.” Logan furrowed his brows for a moment. “If you know, does the professor…?”

“The professor's training _me._ If I can figure that out, I'm sure he has by now,” Adrienne smirked, then the two began walking further down the hall together. “Don't worry, though. Keeping secrets is one of the things that I do best. And if he would've said something, he probably would have by now.”

“Great.” Opening the door for the other, Wolverine turned to look at Patchwork again. This time his glance was less piercing - and since they were at his eye level, he noted the nipple rings that were obviously trying to escape the fabric of his suit. “You're going to have a lot of fun when we're fighting Magneto, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! It took a little while to decide what dynamic I wanted for Wolverine and lil' Patches, but now I know how it's going to go. I've been working on the ending and I'm pleased to say I'm almost finished with it!  
> Just a little bit left to go!  
> Thank you so much for reading, guys! c:


	10. I Try to Picture Me Without You, But I Can't

Chewing on the sleeve of her pink hoodie, Bennie padded down the hallway as quietly as she could. It was almost one in the morning, and she felt horrible when she did this, but she didn't feel like she had a choice.

She knocked on the door to Adrienne’s room, smiling sadly up at a very tired Pete. He rubbed at one of his eyes, opening the door wider so that Bennie could come in. “Nightmares again?”

“Nightmares again.” 

Colossus bent down a little to give her a hug, squeezing her tightly. This happened more than she was willing to admit to anyone, and poor Peter was there for all of it. He was there for Adrienne's nightmares, consoling him and giving him kind words. And then some nights, Bennie would come into the room, too. She was used to having her brother help her calm down, and his roommate joined the equation well. They might not hang out much during the day, but they'd spent probably a good third of the nights she'd been there together, the three of them. Sometimes Dylan and Kitty would follow suit, since the three of them were also in the same room.

If Dylan even woke up, they were such a hard sleeper.

Adrienne was woken up by the commotion, stirring a bit before standing up and putting his arms around the both of them. “Giant cuddle pile?”

“Giant cuddle pile,” Pete repeated.

The two boys sat on either side of Bennie on Addie’s bed, each of them with an arm around her. After a few moments, Kitty stepped through the door silently and smiled sadly down at the trio, barely visible in the dark.

Bennie made grabby hands and Kitty giggled, leaping into her arms and the three of them gladly accepted her into the now very crowded bed. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Bennie’s breath slowly steadying and her tears stopping.

“Want to talk about what happened?” Kitty looked up at her, frowning. “Was it another really bad one?”

“I just don't like seeing people here get hurt,” She explained. “There's gonna be a mission soon, I don't know when, and… And they're going to find something that really messes us all up. I don't know what it was. But it was really, really upsetting.”

Adrienne squeezed her a little tighter.

“I think… It's almost time.”

He blinked down at her, surprised to hear that. “Already? I thought more stuff had to happen first?”

“I keep seeing different things. I don't know which window it's going to be. But after the one that messes everything up… It'll be time.”

Pete looked over at him grimly. “I am not to go on that mission with you. Is that correct?”

“It's too risky. It has to just be Wolverine when he goes.” Bennie’s breath caught in her throat again. “I can't… see it all. I don't even know if it's an actual mission. I don't know how to focus on it. I wish I knew how to control what I see that far ahead, maybe then I wouldn't wake you guys up anymore.”

“No, no, it's okay, don't feel bad,” Kitty reached up to hold her face in her hands. “We're friends, that's what we're here for.”

“I'm going to make you two ‘I'm sorry’ cupcakes again tomorrow.”

“And I'm going to complain about how you're making me fat and eat every one you make anyway.” She released Bennie's face upon winning a smile from her. “But the sorry cupcakes are nowhere near as good as the ‘you're going to do well on your test’ cupcakes.”

“I am partial to the ‘you might have a bad day so here, have these’ ones,” Peter grinned.

“What the fuck, where are mine, kid?” Adrienne faux-pouted at her.

“There’s more people to bake for here.”

“Yeah, now that you actually know how to.” He got a fake slap to the face. 

The four of them stayed like that, a bit uncomfortably, until they adjusted a bit and fell asleep platonically curled up around one another.

Adrienne rose with the first ray of sunshine, slowly inching away from Kitty - who he was pressed against pretty closely. He stepped over Peter, who somehow ended up on the floor in his sleep, and snatched up his uniform that was draped over a chair. He changed in a bathroom, grimacing in the mirror when he saw how outlined his ass was in it.

This definitely wasn't school appropriate.

They started to morph into their Lily body, wincing at the pain as per usual. They reached behind them, noticing there was a zipper inside of the tail-hole and closed it. They let out a long, shaky sigh before looking up at their reflection.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw herself for the first time in ages. She might have morphed for Xavier, for Kurt and Logan, and let even Dylan see her like this… But she made a point to never look into a mirror. She wasn't sure how she'd feel - it was more like looking at a ghost than looking at her reflection.

The suit fit perfectly. It even bound her breasts in pretty well so that they seemed smaller, and the outline of the crevices of her body weren't anywhere near as explicit. Maybe this was on purpose - though she knew it was only because there'd be no reason to ever morph into someone bigger than she'd been in Adrienne form. She wiped away a tear as it finally fell, staring into her own amber eyes. They were both the same color, and she wasn't used to that anymore.

“Lily,” She said out loud, smiling shakily at the mirror. “My name… Is Lily. My name is Lily. Hi, I'm Lily St-Stone.”

It was time she started accepting the other side of who she was, it was time to stop running.

This was her home now. Her family deserved to know.

They clothed her, protected her and her sister, helped her accept her past, helped her have hope for her future. The X Men gave Lily her life back, gave her sister hope, gave her a chance to redeem herself. They gave her a safe place to be who she really was.

She hadn't even told them her real name, nor Bennie's. They always went by Monroe, the city they found each other in. Maybe she'd tell them all that she was born Lilith Stone and Bennie was Bernadette Grey. Maybe one day. But now, she felt it was time to let them know at least this part of her. The organic part of her.

She was confused, not sure who that really meant anymore. Was she Lily? Was she Adrienne? Was she somewhere in the middle? Should she take a new form and start over?

“My name is Patchwork.”

She held her breath for a moment.

“Patchwork. And I'm an X-Man.” She grinned up at her reflection. “I'm here to help save the world.”

The door began to open, and she instinctively teleported into a bathroom stall, closing it and morphing back into their Adrienne body. Once they were finished, they clutched their hands into fists, hating how the suit fit, trying hard not to cry. 

They weren't sure who they were anymore.

-

“Do you have any idea where your brother is?” Dr. McCoy asked Bennie after he pulled her aside. She had just walked into the classroom, early, as always. “He was supposed to help me grade yesterday's assignments overnight. I haven't seen him all morning.”

“No idea,” She replied, shrugging. “He's been spending a lot of time with Wolverine, maybe they're off having harrowing visions of their origins together again.”

He just gave her a look and allowed her to go to her seat, rubbing at his temples in an attempt to help him think of how he was going to approach this situation. 

Kitty was the next person to come into class - through the wall, mostly just because she could. Bennie giggled as she took the seat next to her, scooting closer like she always did. “I think you're off the hook, my brother hasn't showed up with our homework yet.”

“Yes,” Kitty drew out the S, sinking down into her seat as if it was the most comfortable chair she'd ever sat in. “He's always got my back. You think he'll even show up?”

“Not sure yet,” Bennie sat back, crossed her arms, and focused as hard as she could.

In front of her were five windows, but she paid most attention to the brightest one. She mentally willed it to open, peering inside to see… 

“Nope, he's not coming today.” Bennie smiled to herself as she brought her focus back to her best friend. “You _might_ be totally safe.”

“I owe him if he doesn't show. Big time.” She sat back up, propping herself up with her elbows. “Oh! I gotta tell you what Peter told me when you left.”

“Oh my goodness, what did he say?”

They drifted into excitable teenage girl mode, squealing and giggling until the rest of the class had shuffled in. Dylan took their seat on Bennie's other side, sliding her a note. She took it with a little smile, then opened it as the bell rang.

_I'm craving apple cinnamon muffins, let's make some magic later?  
-the all-powerful D_

Bennie scribbled onto the paper, not paying attention to Beast explaining that they'd get their homework later since his student teacher was missing.

_I was planning on doing some baking today anyway! Let's do it! Are we celebrating?  
-the all-knowing B_

After reading the note back, Bullet gave a thumbs up to their friend and then made a crude gesture at her, making her snort rather loudly. 

“Dylan, I know you're a fan of Bennie's laugh, but I'm trying to speak.” Dr. McCoy smiled down at them once they turned around and saluted. “Or, should I say, Bullet. Congratulations on returning from your first successful mission. But please, pay attention now.”

“Couldn't have done it without a little help from my friends.” They sat back, their hands folded together behind their head.

Last night, Bullet, Colossus, Storm, and Cyclops had all gone out to stop some of the X Men’s own advanced technology that had been sent to another group of mutants from getting in the wrong hands. It had been a simple task, but it was still nice to be included. They didn't do much aside from snatch a computer chip away from a thief, but still. A successful mission is a successful mission.

Bennie spaced out for a minute, accidentally drifting off to see a window where she and Dylan made a mess in the kitchen and quickly snapped out of it. She held her hands up to her mouth, trying to stop herself from making any sounds. She'd have to look out for the hand mixer, for sure.

In the middle of Beast’s lesson, the door creaked open and a short, timid-looking girl walked in holding a rather thick binder. She had a tattoo sleeve and piercings on her face, her naturally black hair was just long enough to cover her ears and one of her eyes. 

She was wearing Patchwork’s X Men uniform underneath her denim vest and a pair of Bennie’s shorts.

“Can I help -” Dr. McCoy stared for a minute, along with the rest of the class. The girl put the binder in front of her face as she sat at his desk. The pieces fit together in his brain pretty quickly, and he went back to his lecture.

But Dylan looked like they'd seen a ghost. Bennie reached out to poke at their shoulder, and they jumped at her touch. They quickly wrote down on the note they had been passing, dropping it on Bennie’s desk.

_I've seen that girl in my dreams, I tell you. The literal girl of my dreams is in our classroom.  
-D, Down to make a move_

Bennie couldn't help but let out a full-on howl of laughter when she saw Dylan's face as they read her response.

_That's my brother.  
-B, the Buzzkill_

“Bennie, please,” Beast’s voice was stern, though his eyes were still kind. He had made his way over to Patchwork, opening the binder in front of her and pulling out the folder of graded papers. “Er, it's time to go over yesterday's work. Looks like they were finished, after all…”

After the class went over their assignments (including kitty's lack thereof) and groaned as they were given another for that night, they were dismissed and allowed to head to lunch. The majority of the class didn't pay any attention to Patchwork aside from a comment or two about the mysterious girl behind Beast’s desk, though Dylan and Bennie stayed behind.

“Finally,” Bennie sighed, bending down to hug Patchwork as they sat in the teacher’s chair. “It's good to see you.”

“It's good to be here. Now hurry the fuck up and get some food.” Patchwork put the binder up, hiding her face from Dylan.

“Literally, have I seen you walking around like this before? I feel like I've seen you like this before. Or… Do you think I can see the future too?” Bullet grinned excitedly, bouncing a bit on their heels.

Patchwork put the binder down. “You've seen me like this, and I was nice enough not to erase your memory. Now you, get something to eat. We'll talk at the end of the day, okay?”

The two of them walked out, grumbling to each other. Patchwork followed behind them, yelling an ‘I love you guys!’ before closing the door.

“Is this a new form you're trying out?” Beast asked, erasing things from the chalk board.

“It's, uh… Actually how I'm ‘supposed’ to look.” Patchwork sighed, then stood up to walk over to the teacher. She held out a hand to shake his. “This is what I was born with. I'm still Adrienne, but... I'm. M-my name is Lily. It's… Nice to meet you - again - Dr. McCoy.”

-

“Dude, what the shit,” Dylan whispered under their breath as they pulled out a batch of burned muffins. They had told Bennie they'd take it from there, but got distracted by the little television in the kitchen. She had just finished decorating cupcakes for Kitty and Peter, and was off delivering them while Dylan “watched” the muffins.

They started to feel a little panicked, disappointed that they couldn't even pay attention to a few muffins. They went through all the stages of grief simultaneously, then went to grab the pan of seared remains and dropped it when they touched it without a hot pad.

Dylan watched as the pan fell slowly to the ground, their eyes widening as they noted that it was well, _falling slowly._ They panicked a bit more, not exactly sure how to get themselves out of this state.

First off, they might as well try to grab the muffins before they make a huge mess, and Dylan leapt to grab a hot pad and catch them. They let out a sigh and spun on their heel when Bennie raced up to them at full speed, thank the heavens. “My whole life makes sense now,” They murmured, still clutching the sad excuse for baking in their hands.

“Are you all there, D? I shouldn't have left, I'm so sorry, my - uh, sister? - needed some help with a fighting thing. Wolverine’s decided to train her, and I saw a few windows where they broke the danger room and one where she kinda got another three piercings. I need them to stay friends.” Bennie sighed, grabbing a towel and taking the muffins away from her friend. “You know, I didn't see any of them that said you'd burn these.”

“I'm so bad at baking that the universe is ashamed of me,” They said sadly, watching Bennie as she threw the muffins away. “I mean, if you didn't even see it then - hey, you alright, dude?”

She was most definitely not.

As soon as the muffins were in the trash, Bennie collapsed. Dylan rushed to be at her side, the world around them slowing slightly and they were able to catch her before her head hit the hardwood floor. Time wavered back into its normal speed, and they picked her up, racing to find someone to help. They roared for help as they ran down a hallway, noticing the blood draining from Bennie's nose.

“Oh my s- what happened?” Beast ran out of his classroom, taking the teenager from her friend, who was just on the edge of having a panic attack. Their breath was heavy and fast, more from exhaustion - their little noodle arms weren't meant to carry someone that was that much taller than them.

“She just… fell. Is she gonna be okay?”

“She's breathing alright… I'm not sure what's wrong. Come on.” Dr. McCoy took them to the hospital wing in the basement, hooking Bennie up to some monitors as quickly as he could. He opened one of her eyelids, murmuring something under his breath. “She's seeing into the future. Her eyes are cloudy.”

“Must be one hell of a future,” Dylan took her hand for a moment. “Dude, I hope you're okay in there.”

Though she was still non responsive, Bennie's vitals were all stable and she appeared to be fine. Beast wiped the blood off of her face, called the professor in his office to inform him of what happened - cursing rather innocently when he didn't answer. After only a few moments, he jumped and ran back over to her as she let in a loud, shaky breath. “Bennie, can you hear me?”

Bennie sat up, rubbing at her head for a moment. She pulled the oxygen mask off of her face, then let out a sigh. “I think… No, I know. I just saw into the _past.”_

“Dude, your nose was bleeding and everything. What did you see?”

“A lot,” She said simply, crinkling her nose in disgust. “More than I wanted to see of my brother, that's for sure. Then I saw us at the museum. And… I saw you drop what was left of the muffins. Then I saw some more parts of the future that made other pieces fit together. I feel like I was knocked out for months, I saw so much.”

“That's fucking wicked,” Dylan grinned. “You were only out for like, two minutes. You're totally screwing around with time and - dude, come back!” They waved their hand in front of her face as her eyes clouded again.

“I need to go to the fucking danger room.”

They never heard her swear, not once. Dylan just stepped back and let her jump off of the bed she was on, giving Beast a wide-eyed look as she took off the wires attached to one of her fingers and stormed down the hallway. They both made an “I'm not messing with this one” motion and stayed behind as Bennie raced down the hall.

She kicked the door open with a surprising force, knowing it would open before she even got there. “Stop right fucking there!”

Wolverine and Patchwork’s fight was already over, and the professor had wheeled himself down to meet up with them. After a bit of lengthy discussion, the trio decided it seemed like a good exercise to search what Patchwork could find in Wolverine’s memories. It was no secret that he had no idea where he truly came from. With their bond, Xavier believed that Patchwork may be able to see more than even he could. Just as Patchwork saw beyond what Logan remembered, Bennie was there to stop them.

“Is there an emergency, Ben?” Patchwork, again in their Adrienne body, shot up from the floor where they were sitting with their friend and looked like he was ready to run off.

“Damn right, there's an emergency,” Bennie raced up to him with tears in her eyes. When she was close enough, she lightly punched his chest. “You lied to me about Detroit.”

“About… What?” Adrienne was still reeling from the pain he felt in his Logan’s mind, it took him a few moments to even register what she was saying.

Only a few months prior to them being found by Xavier, Adrienne was on… another kind of mission. It was high stakes, after a drug lord (or so he was told) that had plenty of help. Usually, when he went on trips like those, he'd make sure to be in two or three days, tops. He was home in six on that particular one.

It was successful, but there… Was a slight setback. And he wasn't able to return again. All Bennie knew was that he was found, and that he had to cover his tracks and make sure no one followed him back to New York.

“He's not supposed to know yet, he's supposed to figure it out for himself in the future. Someone gives him all his memories at once.” Bennie stepped away, still visibly angry, but Adrienne could feel her fear was stronger than that. “Don't look any farther, okay? You'll screw up everything.”

“What does that have to do with Detroit?”

“You're a moron,” Bennie crossed her arms. “I can't say it out loud, okay? Come here.”

_Tell me what you saw. I know you saw something more than the professor has._

Their bond was so strong, Adrienne knew to listen to her. He reached out and put two fingers to her temple, showing her the few far-off memories he'd collected.

One was of a battle with a man carrying a circular shield that they both recognized as Captain America, though it didn't feel as if Logan was actually hostile against him. The other memory was a rather tame one with a Japanese woman. He could feel that his friend loved her.

_Now connect the dots, jackass. Who do you know that's half-Japanese that has claws, a healing factor, and looks a lot like Wolverine?_

“Stop swearing at me, you're freaking me out,” Adrienne murmured out loud as he let her go. It took a few seconds, then he slapped his own forehead forcibly enough to bruise himself for a few moments.

And look at this. Bennie pulled Adrienne's hand back, and she let him see into her own mind. It was most definitely the future, and it almost appeared as if Wolverine was fighting a darker version of himself. They were wearing basically the same outfit, only distinguishable between the colors of the suit and the fact the one clad in the darker one had a tattoo. Adrienne, in her Lily body, jumped between them and knocked them both over.

_I saw into the past, too._ Bennie reluctantly let Adrienne see her most recent find, and it was of him washing his hands after killing his target. The date on a calendar on the wall next to him said it was the day after he'd left. Someone else had been looking over what he was doing - a familiar face. With a grin, he asked Adrienne to follow him back to his hotel room. She didn't really want to show him that she saw him mid-coitus, but the fact he morphed into Lily during was probably why someone looking for her was able to track her down.

Adrienne didn't want to remember that exchange, nor did he want to deal with the mutant named Daken again. With this new information, maybe, in the window where Adrienne lived after his end-all with the true Wolverine, he'd have to deal with both of them at the same time. Given the time period, the bone claws and healing factor, and the fact there was a prominent Japanese woman in Logan’s past… Well, that made Daken, the half-Asian assassin that Adrienne knew to be looking for someone he was related to in search of a fight, his son. Since Wolverine didn't remember his own child and with some of the memories Adrienne got with their bond, it was quite obvious that Daken was looking to kill Logan.

He wasn't supposed to know about that yet, apparently. Adrienne knew better than to question why.

“You left me home for a whole week in a dangerous place so you could have sex!” Bennie pushed Adrienne away again. “And you got found! Because you had _sex!”_

“Hey, hey, hey, stop that,” He was incredibly red in the face, and tried his best to hush his sister. “Not my proudest moment. I didn't even want to… Uh, you know -”

“Quit lying to me. Ever since we've got to this school, you've been rolling around the teachers’ beds, too!” She threw her hands up into the air. “You just have sex with everybody!”

“Only three of them!” The color drained from his face all at once. “Awe, dude, that means…”

“I think we'd better leave, old friend,” The professor motioned for the door, starting to wheel toward it. He and Logan were just standing in shock for most of the exchange, but it seemed it was time for them to slip away from it.

“You're disgusting,” Bennie was calming down, but there were still tears streaming down her face.

Adrienne wanted to bring up that she was just jealous because of her thing for Storm, but decided against stopping that low. “Okay, that's true, but I… I don't even know why I got into bed with that asshole. He must've had me under a trance or something, maybe it's one of his powers.”

“Not everybody has a million powers like you do,” His sister spat back. “Every time you mess up with someone, it's always, ‘oh, it's probably one of their powers.’ News flash, a lot of us only have one thing. I can just see into the future. And I guess, I saw the past, but that's still only seeing. Do you see what I'm saying? I can see shit through time. Dylan is fast, Scott has eye beams. You're the one that was blessed with... Fucking _everything.”_

“It's not a blessing. I'm an _empath,_ you know that. And I'm telling you, I would've never…”

“How did you even get away with killing people? You're so sloppy, you're a horrible fighter, you -”

“Until I killed that mutant that made blood clots and made people have aneurysms, I did what my father did.”

Bennie stopped, blinking a few times. She knew about his father, but he never brought him up. Not like this.

“They all killed themselves, as far as anyone else would be concerned. I might not’ve been able to control them completely, but I could do it enough. I was just there right before to make sure I got all of the information.” He let out a big sigh. “But I'm not hurting anyone else, not ever again. I can't do it. People might've been scared of me and left us alone, but I don't have to do that anymore. Unless I have to while I'm with the X Men, I'm not killing anyone ever again. I don't want to hurt people… I especially don't want to hurt you, Ben.”

Bennie wiped a few tears away as Adrienne walked back up to her and extended a ring finger.

“Trust me, I _never_ wanted to hurt you. Everything I'm doing with this team, I'm doing it because you need to be safe. And... I'm sorry about Storm, too.”

“You two won't get anywhere with her, anyway, not with your lack of emotion,” Bennie gave her brother a tiny, shaky smile. She shook her ring finger with his, then threw herself in for a hug. “Addie, I'm scared. I'm afraid I'm gonna lose you.”

“Even if you did, you've still got a family, Ben,” Adrienne rubbed at her back soothingly. “They love you so much, kiddo.”

“They're not you.” She held on tightly. “I couldn't live without you.”

“I'm gonna try my hardest to stick around,” Patchwork whispered. “But you have to promise, if something does happen to me, that you'll be alright.”

“I'm not even gonna think about it. As long as you two are friends and you know what's gonna happen, you'll be okay, right? Right?” Bennie pulled herself away, wiping away another tear. “You've just... got to make sure it doesn't happen.”

“I don't really plan on dying, Ben.” He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled sadly, pulling her in for another hug after a moment. “Not as long as there's something to live for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading!!! I keep making dumb aesthetic posts and searching for the perfect fcs and this story is taking up so much of my heart, oh my gosh. I know exactly how it's gonna go down now.
> 
> And! For a little nugget of this little universe, D also wrote a piece about Dylan!!  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/7306711


	11. Fear the Worst is Yet to Come

There were two Wolverines in the danger room. One wearing his normal blue jeans and white tank, and one wearing some brown pants and a tight black tee. Both of them had their teeth bared, and the one in black went in for the strike.

The other dodged his fist, pulling it closer to him and giving him a kick in the gut. Black-clad Wolverine rolled on the ground, back on his feet in an instant. He was up a lot faster than White-shirt Wolverine expected, and was able to land a solid right hook to his jaw, busting it slightly. Black-shirt wolverine smirked at him after he watched the other spit out blood.

Team white rubbed at his jaw, snapping it back into place. Within a few moments, it was healed, and he snarled at the other again. Team black bounced on his feet, making a run to strike the other’s side with a strong kick. His foot landed, but White-shirt Wolverine moved fast enough to evade getting hit too hard. As soon as his foot landed back on the ground, black-shirt Wolverine’s opposite foot came toward his opponent and hit him hard enough in the face to daze him for a moment.

Black shirt Wolverine raced to grab at the other, but white-shirt Wolverine snapped back into reality and kicked his feet from beneath him. He let out a loud “oof!” as he landed on his back.

Taking advantage of being on the ground, black shirt wolverine spun his legs around fast enough to kick white-wolverine into the wall behind him, a small cough of blood erupting from his mouth. He wiped it clean, then some sort of feral instinct kicked in as he approached the other on the ground.

“Get up,” White-shirt Wolverine snarled, baring his claws now with a loud snikt.

“So this is how we’re playing it,” The other hopped to his feet, both of his fists shifting into Colossus’s organic steel. It was one of those times he was starting to miss having claws, himself, but it was worth not having his limbs severed or his body slashed open when the man he got them from got in trouble. 

And breaking the bones to put them away wasn’t the most fun, either.

The setting in the danger room was completely blank - it was just the regular room, empty, steel, bright lights and tension that could cause anyone to sweat.

The only onlookers above were visible from their position; Dylan, Bennie, and Nightcrawler this time. Usually, when these two fought like this, there were no people to watch. But they didn’t mind it much, especially when the two students asked if they could see how they fight.

It wasn’t common for Logan to lose his focus and let out his claws - so far, it was only hand-to-hand and he was just training Patchwork. It was easier for the younger mutant to morph into Wolverine so that he had a better understanding of the fighting style, channeling as much of Logan as he could. The more he felt like Wolverine, the more he _was_ Wolverine through their bond. And the more he was Wolverine, the better he learned how to fight. The better he got at fighting, the more of a threat he was to his teacher.

The idea of the exercise was to improve Patchwork’s actual fighting skills - they relied too heavily on their other powers, Logan thought. Though they were a natural killer and had their own means of disposing of enemies, he felt it was best that they disarmed and immobilized enemies instead of straight off killing everyone in their path. Sure, that was easier, but it seemed to be frowned upon. Eventually, they wouldn't need to rely on their bonds to fight. If they were really going to be a part of the team, they were going to have to reach their full potential.

What if they encountered someone that was able to suppress their abilities? What if they were stuck in the body they were born with while they were fighting? They were small, even a bit shorter than Logan himself. Their shoulders were built like their fathers and looked like they could hold their own, but their stomach was soft and their arms were toned only the slightest. They wouldn’t last long like that if they weren’t a good fighter.

This fight, Logan was on his toes and felt almost as if he had a chance of losing. Patchwork was getting good, and it was time for the claws. If he hit the kid, they’d grow whatever got cut off back. They shook hands before every fight and said there’d be no hard feelings if one lost a limb or something. Wolverine had an issue with losing control, and Patchwork’s strength they'd picked up a long time ago was hard to master. The other would gladly help whoever was hurt heal back if the worst happened. 

Both of their healing factors were constantly kicking in, not allowing their muscles to get tired. It went on like that for at least a half an hour, at the standstill, they were finally equally matched. 

Patchwork blocked all of Wolverine’s strikes expertly, feeling his approval through their growing bond. They started getting a little too cocky, and Wolverine would’ve been able to slice off their head if he hadn’t thought to put his claws away and just jab them in the throat instead.

Patchwork fell to the ground, choking for a moment. Logan helped them to their feet, grunting that the fight was over.

“You need to watch your head, or you won’t have one for much longer.” Solid advice. “You’re gettin’ good, but don’t get too up your own ass about it. Pay more attention to finishing the job and not to the fact you’re winning.”

“If I had those metal bones like you do, I wouldn’t even have to worry about that,” Patchwork grumbled, morphing into their Lily-shaped body. “I guess it's good, though. I wish I had the choice of -”

“Don’t waste your wishes,” Logan gave her a look that let her know that was a sore subject. “Just do better.”

“I’m sorry. I feel like I’m a little bit better, though. Next time, I think I could knock you down for good.”

“Next time, you’re fighting me looking like this.” He gave Patchwork a smile, loosely putting an arm around her. “You’re good enough now.”

“Think so?” She asked, walking out with him and climbing the stairs up to the area looking onto the room.

“Know so. You’re doing real good, kid. I’m glad to have you at my side.”

Lily leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment, then broke away from him to open the door.

“You guys looked like you were gonna kill each other,” Dylan clapped their hands together a few times. “You shouldda bashed each other some more. That would’ve been cool. Ben said you might.”

“Right when Wolverine punched you in the throat, I thought he was going to stab you.” Bennie shrugged. “But that was only in one window, so I figured you’d be fine.”

“I wouldn’t have liked to see it,” Kurt’s tail swished behind him a bit. “However, it did look like she’s improved a lot. You look evenly matched… almost.”

“Wanted to see them in action for real, Lily never goes on any missions,” Dylan muttered, pulling at Bennie’s hand. “Come on, let’s go play video games or something.”

“We have math homework,” Bennie waved at her sister before she allowed Dylan to tug her away. “You need to do it this time. I’ll help.”

“How come you’re so smart when you’re so much younger? Ain’t fair.”

“It’s a curse,” She flipped her hair a bit. It wasn’t a curse.

“Kids,” Lily crossed her arms, watching the pair lovingly. “I know they wanted to watch, but what are you doing here, Kurt?”

“I was sent to ask for you when you two were finished, the professor wants to speak with you.” 

“Oh shit, that's right, it's Tuesday. We have a thing to do today. I should probably jet.” Lily tightened the belt she was wearing a little more, now realizing the pants she put on were a little baggy after transforming. “You two play nice while we're gone, alright?” And with that, she was gone in a cloud of smoke. 

-

Adrienne helped wheel the professor out of an elevator, shaking visibly. “I hate rickety elevators so much, we could've just teleported up here, you know.”

“I don't think showing up with burns or dried blood on your face is a good way to show that we plan on keeping the child safe.” He raised an eyebrow up at his friend. 

“Touché,” Adrienne shrugged. “It was 312, right?”

The professor nodded, and Adrienne knocked on the door as they approached.

The door swung open almost immediately, and a sweet-looking woman in a grey sweater smiled at the pair. “You two are a little early, I'm so sorry, this place is such a mess. Please, come in!”

Adrienne nodded, wheeling the professor inside of the apartment. After she closed the door, the woman shook both of their hands. After glancing around the room, neither of the two could find what the hell she was talking about, the place was nearly spotless. “It's so nice to meet you in person. My husband is still overseas and sends his apologies, and Harper is still on her way back from practice. She shouldn't be too much longer. Would you like something to drink?”

The three chatted pleasantly over some herbal tea. The woman was interested in what the professor had to say, obviously impressed with the photos of the school and what it stood for. It turns out that her daughter, Harper, was pretty sure she was a mutant for a while. Her powers had only just manifested, but her father was one, as well. Thanks to her ability, she was able to find that most of her family and a few of her friends from school were also mutants.

The girl they were waiting for walked in, dropping her backpack on the floor in the neatest way possible. “Hello,” Her voice was sweet, but far off. She was completely bald, though she still had dark eyebrows. She had a small opal-like gem as a piercing above her lip and blindingly white teeth. She had to be seventeen, old enough to drive her own car. She placed her keys in a little dish, then walked up to shake Adrienne and the professor’s hands. Patchwork refrained from creating a bond with her, just in case something like the Museum Incident happened again. “You're here… About the school, right?”

“That is correct. As your mother and I have discussed, we at…”

Adrienne drowned out the typical ‘we run a school for mutants, where we help gifted youth develop and control their powers while also giving them an education’ speech. The girl, Harper, looked through the photographs of the school that the professor brought with him, and after a few minutes, she shook her head.

“I can't go right now, I have to finish this semester. I've got a major role in the play, I can't just give it up.” Adrienne perked up, tuning back into the conversation. “Maybe afterward, but I can't now.”

“We're not going to force you to come with us now, Harper. We just want you to know that we exist, and if you ever need help, our doors are open.” Adrienne grinned over at the girl pleasantly. “We're just here to help you with your powers, so no matter what, you have a place that's safe in a world that doesn't really know what to do with us yet.”

“Are you a student over there?”

“No, Adrienne is actually a teacher’s assistant.” The professor smiled at his friend, answering for him. “He has been working with our science teacher, and has been helping with some of our arts programs. He is also in our group of mutants that act as security and as heroes that protect mutant kind as a whole.”

“A hero! That's so cool!” The girl giggled softly. “What do you do?”

“We believe in protecting both mutants and humans. So if there's trouble and we can do something to help, we fly out and do our best to solve problems.” Adrienne read the girl’s mind, she was curious about his power. “I'm an empath, I know what people are feeling and can share powers with them. I can do a lot of stuff.”

“Woah, that's so cool…” She shook her head. “All I can do is show people their families.”

The professor and Adrienne looked at each other. ‘All she can do.’ As if that wasn't useful to the team, or to the rest of the world, for that matter. 

“At the institute, every mutant belongs. Every ability, every walk of life, history, race, gender, sexual orientation… every mind is important, and every heart is worth fighting for,” Adrienne truly believed those words. “We're all brothers and sisters. Even if you wanted to still go to school here, we'll be there for you.”

“If you ever have questions, or if you need a mentor, please, give me a call.” The professor wheeled over to Harper and handed her a business card. “We'll be there.”

“You guys are so nice, wow,” She beamed at them, taking the card gladly. “I, uh… Would actually like a tour. Maybe I'll go next semester.”

Her mother looked a little bittersweet - she knew she would be somewhere safe, yet there was always that possibility that she'd stay there in the dorms along with most of the mutants that went to the school. The professor and Patchwork both noted the woman's feelings, giving each other another look.

“And you are always welcome to take a look as well, Mrs. Bennett. Our doors are open,” Xavier told her, receiving a soft sigh.

“When can we see the school?”

-

A couple of weeks had passed, and the snow was piling up on top of the mansion. Many of the students and some of the staff had gone home for the holidays, seeing as there wouldn't be any school for a couple of weeks. 

Dylan was sitting on the kitchen counter with Lily at five in the morning, munching on cereal as they watched the news together. The two of them pulled an all-nighter playing Super Mario 64 and were about to head to bed before they both noticed how hungry they were.

Bullet made a high pitched noise when they saw Captain America on the screen, mouth full of cereal. “There he is, the love of my life.” It panned over to a few other members of the Avengers, though they weren't paying attention to the actual news story. “No, go back to my boyfriend.”

After swallowing a mouthful of her own cereal, Lily snorted. “Iron Man’s where it's at.” She munched on another spoonful. 

“He's okay, I guess, but look at Cap’s arms, dude…” Dylan put down their bowl to clutch their chest melodramatically. 

“He's the most generic-looking goody two shoes I've ever seen.” Her little legs dangled, far from touching the ground. “Boring-ass blond guy. What's so great about him? He knows every law word for word?”

“Iron Man’s a drunk, and - ”

“So am I,” She giggled, setting her bowl on the counter, too. “I'm just saying, if I had my choice of which avenger to ‘tousle’ with, it'd be - ”

“The one with the love for fast vehicles and the moral issues, I get it, you have a type.” Dylan laughed at Lily as she hopped down, following after her. “I probably gotta go to bed, dude. Are you gonna sleep?”

“I'll probably take a nap. I want to spend some time with Ben today. You know, since she hasn't been feeling well.” She stood on her tiptoes to give Dylan a proper hug. “And I want to make sure I don't sleep longer than you do if you're leaving tonight.”

“I'll only be home for a week, dude. Plus, you could probably teleport a few times and reach my mom’s.” They threw up a peace sign before they spun on their heels and left, shuffling their feet toward their room.

“Good morning, Lily. My, you're up early.” Beast walked into the kitchen on the opposite side, instantly going for the coffee maker. “Weren't having a nightmare again, were you?”

“No, actually, I'm still up.” She rubbed at one of her eyes. “I was planning on going to bed here in a minute, maybe.”

“Before you go… I've been meaning to talk to you about something.” Lily walked over to Hank, leaning against the counter. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Your sister, and her nosebleeds. All those blackouts she's been having. I believe her true power hasn't manifested itself yet, but it's in the process. I believe she may…”

“Be a lot more powerful than anyone gives her credit for? Yeah, I know.” She picked at a fingernail, not looking up at him. “I don't think she's going to be limited to _our_ future for much longer. She's been seeing into the past so much… And it's like she's seeing into different pasts, like, what would've happened if something had changed.”

“She told me about how you went back to Texas after your stay at the orphanage.”

“Yeah, like I was going to. And she watched me die and then that group of assholes growing into a nationwide cult? She showed me. It's a bunch of bullshit. They would've had a _pastor_ in charge and slaughtered way more mutants than they did.” Lily took the cup of coffee as Hank offered it to her, nonchalantly pulling a small hidden flask from her cleavage and pouring some of her whiskey in it. He blinked, but didn't interrupt. “The world would've been even more fucked up if they killed me off, seems like. It's weird to think one life had such an effect on the future. I know they went by some name in her vision, but I'm not sure what it was, or if it’d be the same. Maybe we could ask her to find out what they called themselves?"

Hank watched as she downed some of the coffee that was so hot, he didn't even press it to his lips yet. “Don't make her look too far. I'm pretty certain that her loss of vision has something to do with her looking back into that set of windows.”

“Do you think that maybe…” Lily shook her head. “Nah, that'd be crazy.”

“We're X Men, my dear. Crazy is the norm.”

“Do you think she'll be able to _open_ those windows one day?”

“If she's able to see so many futures and so many pasts and travel to those different realities…” He stopped, finally building up the courage to take a sip. “Well, I'd be glad she's on our side.”

“She'd have the potential to be one the most powerful mutants on earth, wouldn't she.” It was an obviously rhetorical question, Lily was focused more on finishing her coffee than anything. “I wonder if there'd be those futures she can't see anymore. Maybe we wouldn't be able to change them like we can now.”

“Only time will tell, I'm afraid.” 

“She's probably holding a whole universe in that big brain of hers.” Lily looked far-off - Hank assumed it was either from the lack of sleep or the contents of the flask. Probably a combination of both. “No wonder she's got such a big head.”

“Lily?” He called as she began to walk back to her room. She turned back for a moment. “I'm… glad we exist in the timeline where you survived.”

Lily gave the big blue softie a wide, genuine grin. “Me too, Hank.” She let out a sigh, turning back around. “Me too.”

“Patchwork, suit up! We need to go, now,” Cyclops was all dressed up in his uniform, breathing heavily. “Details when we get in the jet. Have Bullet ready, too.”

“You're bringing me along this time? What about Hank?”

“The professor thinks you're linked to this rescue mission somehow. Hank needs to stay here with the kids. Now _hurry.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major trigger warning in the next one for violence/death. Sorry for taking so long!  
> It's all coming together now, though! Whoooooo!


	12. A Clean Shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is about to get real dark, folks. If you're triggered by violence or by death it's definitely not going to be for you :c

The jet touched down silently, and the team shuffled off as quietly as they could. They were given coordinates by the professor for a rescue mission, one to save who would soon be the newest student in the school, Harper. Her mother had called the professor, begging him to find her, hoping he hadn't been behind her capture. The professor also said there was another girl that didn't belong there, but he couldn't quite read her mind. He told them to just get the girls out and run, essentially, and that's what they intended to do.

That was enough to get a pretty full team out - Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Bullet, and for the first official time, Patchwork.

What would someone want with a teenager, and possibly a younger girl? The professor had picked up that there would be a group of hostiles protecting this building that was seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. There was obviously something the matter, and it was their job to both rescue the child and get clues to expose the plot behind their kidnapping. 

Cyclops’s plan that he concocted with the others in the jet was for Nightcrawler and Patchwork to get inside, and open a door for Bullet. Equipped with a device to replicate the files on whatever computer they could get their hands on, Bullet was going to zip around the building and get as much information as they could. 

Storm covered their tracks in the snow and provided some extra darkness, making sure no one would be able to spot them. Patchwork focused telepathically on the minds of whoever was nearest to them inside, and signaled that the door closest was safe for them to teleport into. One ‘porter went after the other, and after a few moments, the door was opened. 

The plan was to get the children first. Hopefully, they could do so without much fuss. After they were secured in the Blackbird, Patchwork would contact the rest of the group and inform them of their status. They'd hone in on Bullet, and if they needed backup or if something got messy, that's what Wolverine was for. Hopefully they'd be in and out before the sunrise.

Cyclops crept into the building silently behind Bullet after Patchwork opened the door, and Patchwork sent them a quick _careful, someone's coming_ telepathically.

_Make sure they don't see us._

Patchwork nodded, putting two fingers to his temple as he focused on making it look like the entrance was clear to whoever was coming. He stepped back while doing so to close the door before a man with a large gun peered into the hallway they were hiding in. After a shrug, the man left and the group of mutants let out sighs simultaneously. 

“Go. And be careful,” Scott whispered to Bullet, and they nodded at him obediently. The door next to them inched open and shut again as they zipped off. After a few moments, the door opened again and the one next to it flew open momentarily. 

_There's six people in the room across from the one you're in,_ Patchwork sent Bullet. _I think that's where you need to be._

 _Get them out of that room, and I'll see what I can do._ He heard as he focused on Bullet’s mind.

_Harper is upstairs,_ Patchwork reported to both Cyclops and Nightcrawler after scanning the thoughts he could hear around him. _Directly above us. And there's… A child. It's a young child. There are ten people in that room. The top floor has at least a dozen. There are six in the room across from us down here. That's where Bullet needs to go._

Kurt nodded, then was off after saying he’d get the children. He was an expert at hiding in the shadows, so neither of the duo left downstairs was worried.

“You know how the professor stops people in crowds, like in the museum where you met everyone?” Patchwork nodded slowly as Cyclops whispered. “You need to do it so that Bullet can get in there.”

 _I need to focus all of my thoughts and energy in order to do that with so many people, I haven't perfected it,_ He looked down at Cyclops sadly. _That could be dangerous for our cover if someone out there is tracking me._

“We'll risk it. Hurry.”

Adrienne gulped, then began to transform back into the body they were born with. Once she was finished, she took a deep breath, then put two fingers to her temple. She bolted to the other side of the hallway, reached for the door handle, and opened it. She peered into the room, completely focused, and smiled as she saw the room was still.

“Bullet, your move,” Patchwork said out loud, pleased with herself.

They did as they were told, now in the other room and attaching the device to the computer. It took a good thirty seconds before they were done, and directly after they zipped back to Cyclops and Patchwork in the hallway. Bullet lifted up the little device, displaying it proudly. 

“Good work. Now get back to the jet.” Cyclops ordered. They did as they were told, leaving he and Patchwork alone again. “Lily, ask Kurt what's taking so long.”

She complied, panting softly from exertion before closing the door and letting the people inside go back to what they were doing.

_Kurt, are you alright?_

_They are trying to use her to find mutants so that they may kill them. I can hear them talk to each other._ His feelings hit Patchwork, and her heart broke. _There’s a woman crying with a gun to her head._

_We need you to get the kids and get out of there. Do you need my help? Are there more people with guns?_

_Lily, they were… looking for you. Harper is helping. She's not the one in danger._

Patchwork stood in her spot for a moment, her hand falling from her temple. She looked at Scott desperately, searching for words, trying to stop the surge of murderous thoughts from reaching her. She knew exactly who the child was.

_Get them. We need to go. Now._

Patchwork was so focused on what she was sending to Kurt she didn't notice the door next to her opening. Cyclops covered his mouth, backing away slowly, trying to gesture to her to teleport the hell out of there.

But it was too late.

“Who in God’s name…”

Without really thinking, her old instincts overtook her. One glimpse of his face and she was in shock. They both has a moment of realization of who the other was, and his lips curled into a snarl. “You, you little bitch, you tricked me the last time, this time you won't -” She reached out her hand, snapping her fingers once at the man’s temple. 

He fell to the floor without another word.

“Patchwork, that's not what we're here for!” Cyclops hissed, slightly horrified by what he had watched. What the hell did she just do to him? Was he still alive? The _fuck_ was he talking about?

The sound of the man hitting the floor started a commotion, then soon the door was kicked open. Patchwork froze for a moment as multiple pairs of eyes hit her, then swore out loud when she heard, “It's her! She _did_ know!”

“Patchwork, call for backup!” Cyclops grabbed at his visor, ready to attack.

An alarm of sorts, which sounded more like an airhorn than a security system, went off almost immediately after Scott’s request. There was the sound of gunfire from the floor above. Several flashes of light hit Lily, and she did her best to transform back into Adrienne, aware that these people might be tracking them. Horrified, Patchwork thought the worst and leapt at Scott as soon as they were done, holding him tight and teleporting them both back outside. It took too much of their energy to do so, and they collapsed, worn out in the snow.

“Adrienne!” Storm stayed behind as Wolverine took off for the door, falling to her knees and holding Patchwork close. Blood seemingly oozed from his side from an unknown wound for a moment. “He's alright. Get in the jet, Scott. I heard Kurt teleport inside. I'll call for Logan.”

“No, you get inside, I'll carry him.”

“I can walk, Jesus.” Patchwork had just came to, standing up and offering a hand to Storm, helping her up. “I'll go collect our Wolverine. You guys get in there.”

“Hurry, before he kills someone.” Cyclops gave him a look. “They'll most definitely be hitting him with everything they've got, especially when they see one of their own is already dead.”

He didn't let his words hit him yet, he just ran toward the building at full speed. There was obvious gunfire going off, constant, desperate. Patchwork kicked down the door, allowing a small hail of bullets to pierce him. He approached one of the men going after them - apparently only a few actually had weapons - and snached the gun from his hand, tossing it to the ground. After he was finished staring the now groveling man down, he shimmied over to his side and grabbed at Logan’s hand. “Boss wants us back in the jet.”

“Then get us out of here,” He commanded tossing a knocked-out gun wielder to the ground. Patchwork merely teleported them out just past the door, only burning himself out a little bit. Once he was steady on his feet, he ran beside Logan until they entered the jet, which flew off almost instantaneously. 

“Oh my god,” Adrienne gasped, noting the blood on the floor of the jet. Harper was in tears on the ground, Storm’s arms around her. Indescribable emotions hit him as the door closed behind him, grief seeped into every pore, and tears started streaming down his face. He had no idea where it was coming from, but someone was feeling like they'd ruined _everything_ , like they didn't do what they were born to do, like they failed at -

“Elf, are you alright?” He looked up for a moment, still sobbing as Logan bent down and tended to Kurt, who nodded and quietly told him everything was alright. “Look. You're bleeding, you're not alright, dammit. Let's get you -”

“What… _happened_ back there?” 

“Good fucking question, Adrienne. What the hell did you… What did you even do to that man?” Scott didn't look behind him from the jet’s controls. Bullet sat in the chair next to him, too afraid to look behind them. They twirled their now-messy ponytail absentmindedly, dissociating completely. 

“I didn't mean to, I just… I remembered him. I fucking knew that guy. I-I-I looked in his mind and I saw myself getting blown to bits and fire and he started talking and I… Panicked.” He reached down to put a hand on his stomach, remembering, tears still streaming from his eyes. “He killed my uncle and tried to set my sister on fire. They were the people that are after me. _They were the people after me all this time._ And now… Kurt, please, give me some good news about what happened. Please.”

“I was able to save Harper,” Words were difficult for him. He was slipping. The blood loss from the wound in his side was getting to him, and there wasn't much time despite Wolverine applying enough pressure to probably crack his ribs in desperation. “But they…” a long pause, followed by more tears. “They killed the little girl.”

Adrienne gaped at him, not sure how to process what he had said. He reached out a shaky hand to take Kurt’s, using their bond to replay what happened inside. The alarm went off, and the only person in the room with a gun, a woman wearing leather gloves, shot the little girl directly in the head, and then a screaming woman to her right. Nightcrawler swooped in to take Harper, but she was able to see him and sent a bullet clean through the bottom of his ribs before he teleported away. 

“R-Rosie, her name was Rosie. And her mom’s name was Leda. They-they were my family.” Adrienne felt so dirty, so fucking disgusting in his skin, and reverted back into their other body. “If I would've looked closer, I would've known, I would've known it was them. I fucking knew they moved to this state to be closer. She sent me the first letter I'd been able to receive saying she wanted to be as far from Texas as possible. They had a goddamn house, I sent them money, they were going to be okay, they lived in a house…”

She clenched her fist. “The man that killed Rosie's dad is dead. The man that killed Adrienne, he is dead. At least -”

“He might have killed someone in your past, but that doesn't mean you can just kill him too, Patchwork!” Cyclops roared behind him.

“Shut up, One-eye, this girl just lost a part of her goddamn family! This ain't the time for a lecture.” Logan snarled from next to his best friend. “And one of our own is hurt. Shove your morals up your ass for a minute. Maybe shut your mouth for the first time in your goddamn life and get us home. Chrissake.”

“Ah, Kurt, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,” She repeated over and over, unclenching her fist and holding his hand with both of hers. After kissing his hand, she whispered, “It’s not your fault. Please don't think it's your fault. Don't for one second let this kill you.”

“You will… Forgive me for failing at saving your family?”

“My family wasn't destined to be alive this long anyway, Elf.” She smiled sadly at him. She wanted to make up excuses, to tell him that obviously, it wasn't his fault, but from what she could feel, that wasn't going to help. “Of course I forgive you. Now let's try to save you, you're my family, too.”

She nodded at Wolverine, who pulled away slightly and allowed her to look at Kurt’s wound. Without really thinking, she pressed a hand to his wound and closed her eyes, letting tears fall freely. She was losing hope, they weren't going to make it in time. He was visibly shaking from the pain still, but he still ran a finger through her short hair, not wanting her to cry about this, too. He was still bleeding, but it wasn't… Bad. In fact, it almost seemed to stop. He stopped shivering for a moment, blinking, then placed a hand on Lily’s. “I feel - Lily, did you just…?”

Lily’s side was bleeding again, enough for it to drip her own blood onto the ground beside her, as well. She let go of Kurt, eyes wide. She felt herself heal as her hands rubbed together, then gasped as she noted that Nightcrawler’s gaping bullet hole no longer existed. She squeaked, overwhelmed with both grief and with relief, and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a peck on the cheek. 

“You saved ‘im,” Logan shook his head, finally able to look down at his friends without the fear of seeing something he didn't want to watch. He sat down next to a very bloody Nightcrawler again, wrapping his arms around his best friend and squeezed. “Ain't that convenient, you just find out you can heal others when…”

The jet touched down at home, and though his wound was healed, Nightcrawler still needed Wolverine’s help getting out. Cyclops ran to report to the professor, Storm guided Harper and Bullet out, and Patchwork sat in her own drying blood for a few moments, trying to catch up with her feelings. Before she knew it, it was two hours later, and she was being called for.

Scott said something to her, Charles said something to her, and Kurt placed a hand on her shoulder as they watched the tv in the professor's office.

There was a "shocking" news bulletin playing, reporting that police drove to the site of a battle in Pennsylvania only to find that everyone there had vacated the now-burned building. Multiple “kidnapping victims” were giving their stories. Only one set of fingerprints were found on the scene, most of which were on a gun and the doors of the building. Firemen were trying their best, but the walls were falling. They were much too late. There were three victims - all human, which other victims carried out with them. One of these said humans was a child. The shot panned out to show the street of a city, riddled with anti-mutant posters.

Lily refused to listen to anything the reporters were saying.

Time seemed to stop for the entire day, Lily’s mind swimming with thoughts that didn't want to materialize and a barrage of everyone else's that did. She couldn't focus to block anyone's thoughts out, and she just stared into the distance, not truly there.

Logan seemed to understand, helping her to her room and standing up for her as Scott screamed about what they were saying on the news to the professor. Apparently one of the victims was able to bring a camera, and caught a shot of Lily, a shot of her transforming, and a shot of Adrienne. They were able to track the man first, who was interviewed and had a strong alibi. 

The girl in the pictures was supposedly dead.

Once it got out that this girl was related to mutants and that it was very possible that she was alive, the fact that she caused the death of a child put the world instantly on high alert. This girl was said to have died in a fire - which could have just been her trademark, or a way of getting rid of evidence. The story was that she'd abducted a large number of “peaceful” anti-mutant protesters from that area and planned on gunning them all down. First, she killed the child and her screaming mother. To show she was strong, even without powers, she threatened to kill anyone who approached, and killed the man that tried shooting her down with just a snap of her finger. This man was instantly regarded as a hero. After getting bored, and seemingly pleased with herself, she set the building on fire and left.

Harper was driven home with Storm, who held her hand for a majority of the ride. Harper’s mother screamed at her, how the school was filled with monsters, how if she hadn't gotten the call from Xavier, that her baby girl would've never been taken. How dare the mutant that abducted them include her baby girl. Why would she kidnap one of her own? Had they heard what this mutant apparently did before? How many people the media says she's killed?

There was no convincing her that the news was wrong, and Harper didn't want to speak up. She just stared in front of her, and when she finally did say something to Storm as a goodbye, she just told her:

“They showed me what she's done. She has to die.”

Bennie entered Lily’s room in the evening with a plate of food, trying her best to get her sister to eat something. Her words wouldn't focus in Lily's mind, but her presence was appreciated, and she just rested her head on her little sister's knees and cried. Bullet tried to help, as well, but their jokes and uneasy laughter only went so far. They apologized, then left when their mother finally arrived. Bennie and Dylan embraced outside of the mansion, and Bennie's heart sank further as her friend’s car got smaller in the distance.

They didn't want to stay to deal with this. They'd never been this angry. It was probably best that they weren't here. 

Peter let Lily have the room to herself this time, noticing that even his, Kitty's, and Bennie’s normal setup wasn't getting anything out of her. The only person to enter the room after midnight struck was Kurt, who she merely clung to. He wrapped himself around her, trying to make her feel protected, whispering soft words of positivity and a few bible verses to her in an attempt to bring her back from her detachment. It helped Logan with some of his post traumatic episodes, but it didn't seem to help her out as much. Her heart was completely crushed, and he was afraid of a monster being born in place of her broken spirit. 

She finally spoke after waking from her usual nightmare.

“I keep seeing the same future, Kurt,” She whispered. “I'm scared.”

“Of what, meine liebe?”

“ _Myself_.”


End file.
